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ON  THE  PART  OF 


THE  UNITED  STATES, 


OF  THE  CASE  REFERRED, 


IN   PURSUANCE    OF  THE 


conrvENTiour  of  29Th  September,  1827, 


BETWEEN  THE  SAID  STATES  AND 


GREAT  BRITAIJV, 


TO  HIS  MAJESTY, 


THE  KINO  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS, 


FOR  HIS  DECISION  THEREON. 


PRINTED,  BUT  NOT  PUBLISHED. 


WASBHrOTOV: 

PRINTED  AT   THE  OFFICE  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES'  TELEGRAPH. 

1829. 


'»' 


(  '■} ' 


'•  ■*.■>'. -A    ^_    ^  ^>'     (J 


'^\  M  '<' 


.->.     ...   -i.'     ,^   .(    ;i. 


«        U     -- 


INTRODUCTION, ....    5 

I.  North-west  Angle  of  Nova  Scotia,and  Line  thence  to  the  North-westernmost 

head  of  Connecticut  River, 7 

§  1.    The  American  Line  established  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty,     -        -        -    8 
§2.    Ancient  Provincial  Boundarie8,a8  established  by  former  authentic  acts,        •  14 
§  3.    The  Ancient  Boundaries  confirmed  by  the  Treaty,  -         -        -         -  28 

§  4.    Coincidence  of  the  American  Line  with  the  ancient  established  Boun- 
daries,    ---.........27 

§  5     The  British  Line  inconsistent  with,  and  contradictory  to  the  terms  of 

the  Treaty 34 

n.  North-westernmost  Head  of  Connecticut  River,  -        -        -        -        -        -  37 

III.  Boundary  Line  from  the  Connecticut  River  to  the  River  St  Lawrence,  -        -  41 


INTRODUCTION,  (a) 


The  Boundaries  of  the  United  Stttes  of  America  were  defined,  by  the 
Treaty  of  Peace,  concluded  the  3d  day  of  September,  1783,  between  the  said  States 
and  His  Britannic  Majesty,  in  the  following  words,  viz: 

*'  Article  2.  And  that  all  disputes  which  might  arise  in  future  on  the  subject 
of  the  Boundaries  of  the  said  United  States  may  be  prevented,  it  is  hereby  agreed 
and  declared,  that  the  following  are  and  shall  be  their  Boundaries,  viz:  from  the 
north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  viz:  that  angle  which  is  formed  by  a  line  drawn  due 
north  from  the  source  of  the  St.  Croix  River,  to  the  Highlands,  along  the  said  High- 
lands which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence^ 
from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-westemmost  head  of  Con- 
necticut River;  thence,  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river,  to  the  forty-fifth  degree 
of  north  latitude;  from  thence,  by  a  line  due  west  on  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the 
River  Iroquois  or  Cataraquy;  thence,  along  the  middle  of  said  river,  into  Lake  On- 
tario, through  the  middle  of  said  Lake,  until  it  strikes  the  communication  by  water 
between  that  lake  and  Lake  Erie;  thence,  along  the  middle  of  said  communication 
into  Lake  Erie,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake,  until  it  arrives  at  the  water  commu- 
nication between  that  lake  and  Lake  Huron;  thence,  along  the  middle  of  said  water 
communication,  into  the  Lake  Huron;  thence,  through  the  middle  cf  said  lake,  to  the 
water  communication  between  that  lake  and  Lake  Superior;  thence,  through  Lake 
Superior,  northward  of  the  Isles  Royal  and  Philipcaux,  to  the  Long  Lake;  thence, 
through  the  middle  of  the  said  Long  Lake,  and  the  water  communication  between  it 
and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  to  the  said  Lake  of  the  Woods;  thence,  through  the  said 
lake,  to  the  most  north-western  point  thereof;  and  from  thence,  on  a  due  west  course, 
to  the  River  Mississippi;  thence,  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  said 
River  Mississippi,  until  it  shall  intersect  the  northernmost  part  of  the  thirty-first 
degree  of  north  latitude.     Soutn,  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  determina- 
tion of  the  line  last  mentioned,  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-one  degrees  north  of  the 
equator,  to  the  middle  of  the  River  Apalachicola  or  Catahouche;  thence,  along  the 
middle  thereof,  to  its  junction  with  the  Flint  River;  thence,  straight  to  the  head  of 
St.  Mary's  River;  and  thence,  down  along  the  middle  of  St  Mary's  River\  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  East,  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  middle  <  f  the  River  St.  Croix, 
from  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  its  source;  and  from  its  source,  directly  north, 
to  the  aforesaid  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
from  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence:  comprehending  all  islands  within 
twenty  leagues  of  any  part  of  the  shores  of  the  United  States,  and  lying  between 
lines  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  points  where  the  aforesaid  Boundaries  between 
Nova  Scotia,  on  the  one  part,  and  East  Florida,  on  the  other,  shall  respectively  touch 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  excepting  such  islands  as  now  arc,  or 
heretofore  have  been,  within  the  limits  of  the  said  Province  of  Nova  Scotia." 

Circumstances,  on  which  it  is  now  unnecessary  to  dwell,  prevented  an  immedi- 
ate execution  of  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1783.     It  wis  only  by  the 

(a)  For  all  the  quotitioni  Trom  Treities  between  the  Ignited  States  and  Great  Britain,  see  Written 
evidence,  No.  1 . 


treaty  of  Amity,  Commerce,  and  Navigation,  roncliided  on  the  I9tli  of  November, 
1794,  between  the  two  Powers,  that  llis  llrilaniiic  Majesty  iigrccd,  on  certain  con- 
ditions therein  specified,  to  withdraw,  on  or  i)ef«re  the  (irst  day  of  .liiiic,  17UC,  all  his 
troops  and  garrisons  from  all  posts  and  places  within  the  Uoiindary  Lines  assigned  by 
the  Treaty  of  Peace  to  the  United  States. 

Doubts  having  arisen  what  river  was  truly  intended  under  the  name  of  the  River 
St.  Croix,  mentioned  in  the  aforesaid  treaty  of  peace,  and  forming  a  part  of  the  Boun- 
dary therein  described,  that  question  was  referred,  by  virtue  of  the  fifth  article  of  the 
said  treaty  of  1794,  to  the  final  decision  of  Commissioner.s  to  be  appointed  in  the  man- 
ner therein  prescribed:  And  both  parties  agreed,  by  the  said  article,  to  consider  such 
decision  as  final  and  conclusive,  so  as  that  the  same  shoidd  never  thereafter  be  called 
into  question,  or  made  the  subject  of  dispute  or  diflerence  between  them. 

The  Commissioners,  appointed  in  conformity  with  the  said  fifth  article  of  the 
treaty  of  1794,  did,  by  their  declaration  of  October  35th,  179S,  decide,  a  river  called 
"Scoodiac,"  and  the  noril'ern  branch  of  it  (called  "Chcputnaticook,")  to  be  the  true 
River  St.  Croix  intended  by  the  treaty  nf  peace;  that  its  mouth  was  in  the  Bay  of 
Passamaqucddy,  at  a  place  called  Joe's  Point,  and  its  source  at  the  northernmost  head 
sjiring  of  the  northern  branch  aforesaid,  (b) 

By  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Ghent,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  it 
was  agreed  to  provide  for  a  final  adjustment  of  the  Boundaries  described  in  the  treaty 
of  17S3,  which  had  not  yet  been  ascertained  and  determined,  embracirg  certain  islands 
in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  the  whole  of  the  Boundary  Line  from  the  source  of  the 
River  St.  Croix  to  the  most  north-western  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

It  is  provided  by  the  fifth  article  of  the  .said  treaty  as  follows: 

•'Whereas  neither  that  point  of  the  Highlands  lying  due  north  from  the  source 
of  the  River  St.  Croix,  and  designated  in  the  former  treaty  of  peace  between  the  two 
Powers,  as  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  nor  the  north -westernmost  head  of 
Connecticut  River,  has  }-et  been  ascertained;  and  whereas  that  part  of  the  Boundary 
Line  between  the  dominions  of  the  two  Powers,  which  extends  from  the  source  of  the 
River  St.  Croix,  directly  north,  to  the  above  mentioned  north-west  angle  of  Nova 
Scotia;  thence,  along  the  .said  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  them- 
selves into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to 
the  north-westernmost  head  of  C  Jni'.ecticut  River;  thence,  down  along  the  middle  of 
that  river,  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude;  thence,  by  a  line  due  west,  on 
said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the  River  Iroquois  or  Calaraquy,  has  not  yet  been  sur- 
veyed; it  is  agreed  that  for  those  several  pur|)08es,  two  Cunimissioners  shall  be  ap- 
pointed, sworn,  and  authorized  to  act,  &c 

The  said  Commissioners  shall  have  power  to  ascertain  and  determine  the  points  above 
mentioned,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  said  treaty  of  peace  of  17H3,  and 
shall  cause  the  Boundary  aforesaid,  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix  to  the  River 
Iroquois  or  Cataraquy,  to  be  surveyed  and  marked  according  to  the  said  provisions. 
The  said  Commissioners  shall  make  a  maj)  of  the  said  Boundary,  and  annex  to  it  a 
declaration,  under  their  hands  and  seals,  certifying  it  to  be  the  true  map  of  the  said 
boundary,  and  particularizing  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  north-west  angle  of 
Nova  Scotia,  of  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  and  of  such  other 
points  of  the  said  Boundary  as  they  may  deem  proper.  And  both  parties  agree  to 
consider  such  map  and  declaration  as  finally  and  conclusively  fixing  the  said  Boun- 
dary." 

The  same  article  further  provides  for  the  reference  to  a  friendly  Sovereign  or 
State,  in  the  event  of  the  Commissioners  dilTering,  or  of  both,  or  either  of  them,  re- 
fusing, declining,  or  omitting  to  act. 

(i)  AVriltcn  Evidence,  No.  '^. 


The  Cnmmissioners  appointed  in  conformity  with  the  anid  fil\h  article,  oAer  sitting 
near  five  years,  could  not  agree  on  any  of  the  matters  referred  to  tiinm,  nor  even  on 
a  general  map  of  the  country  exhibiting  the  Dnundarics  respectively  claimed  by  each 
party.  They  accordingly  mado  separate  reports  to  both  Governments,  stating  the  points 
on  which  they  diifered,  and  the  grounds  upon  which  their  respective  opinions  had  been 
formed. 

The  case  having  arisen  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  refer  the  points  of  diflc- 
rencc  to  a  friendly  Sovercigii  or  State,  the  two  Powers  found  it  expedient  to  regulate 
the  proceedings,  and  make  some  further  provision  in  relation  to  the  said  reference; 
and,  on  the  29th  of  September,  1827,  concluded  a  Convention  to  that  effect. 

It  was  thereby  agreed,  amongst  other  provisions,  that  new  and  separate  state- 
ments of  tlij  respective  cises,  severally  drawn  up  by  each  of  the  Contracting  Parties, 
should  be  substituted  to  the  reports  and  documents  of  the  Commissioners  above  men- 
tioned; reserving  to  each  party  the  power  to  incorporate  in,  or  annex  to,  either  of  ita 
statements,  any  portion  of  the  said  reports  and  documents  which  it  might  think  fit. 

The  Map  A.  was  also  agreed  on  by  the  Contracting  Parties,  as  a  delineation  of  the 
•vater-courses,  and  of  the  Boundary  Lines  in  reference  to  the  said  water-courses,  as 
contended  for  by  each  party  respectively.  And  that  map,  together  with  that  called 
Mitchell's  Map,  by  which  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of  1783  are  acknowledged  to  have 
governed  their  joint  and  official  proceedings,  were  declared  to  be  the  only  maps  that 
should  be  considered  as  evidence,  mutually  acknowledged  by  the  Contracting  Parties, 
of  the  topography  of  the  country. 

Where  those  maps  differ  one  from  the  other,  they  must,  of  course,  be  considered 
as  evidence  mutually  acknowledged;  the  Map  A,  of  the  actual  topography  of  the 
country,  and  Mitchell's  Map,  of  the  topography  as  it  was  understood  by  the  framers 
of  the  treaty  of  1783. 

The  two  Governments  having  since  agreed  in  the  choice  of  a  friendly  Sovereign, 
and  His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,  thus  happily  selected  as  Arbiter,  having 
consented  to  act  as  such,  this  statement  of  the  case  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
is  respectfully  submitted  to  his  consideration. 

The  Boundary  Lines  as  contended  for  by  each  party  respectively,  which  are 
delineated  on  the  Map  A,  give  a  general  view  of  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  two 
Parties,  and  of  the  points  of  difference  on  which  the  decision  of  His  Majesty,  in  con- 
formity with  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  is  respectfully  requested. 

Those  points  of  difference  may  be  reduced  M.three,  which  will  be  separately  dis- 
cussed, viz: 

1st.  The  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  Boundary  Lino  contemplated 
by  the  treaty  of  1783,  extending  from  that  angle,  along  certain  Highlands,  to  the 
north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River. 

2dly.  The  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  contemplated  by  the 
treaty  of  1783. 

3dly.  The  Boundary  Line  from  the  Connecticut  River  to  the  River  Iroquois  or 
Calaraquy,  (St.  Lawrence,)  as  intended  by  the  treaty  of  1783. 


I. 

NOllTH-WEST  ANGI.K  OF  NOVA   SCOTIA,  AND    LINE   THKNCE    TO   THE  NORTH-WES- 
TEllNMOST   HEAD  OK  CONNECTICUT  UIVEU. 


In  order  to  avoid  the  confusion  which  might  arise  from  a  change  of  names,  it 
is  necessary,  in  the  first  phce,  to  premise,  that,  .'-ubsequent  to  the  treaty  of  1783,  the 
Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  which,  at  the  dale  of  that  treaty,  was  contiguous  to  the 


United  SUtM,  hai  beon  divided,  by  the  British  OoTernment,  into  two  Proyinces;  the 
■outh-eB8tern  part,  or  peninsula,  retaining  the  name  of  Novu  Scotia,  and  the  north- 
western part^  which  is  tliat  adjacent  to  the  United  States,  having  been  erected  into  ■ 
new  Province,  by  the  name  of  New  Brunswick,  (c) 

The  British  Province  of  Quebec,  as  it  was  railed  at  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783, 
has  also  been  since  divided  into  two  Provinces,  viz:  Upper  Canada  and  Lower  Canada; 
this  last  being  that  which  is  contiguous  to  the  United  States,  as  far  west  m  the  Boun- 
dary now  in  discussion  eitends.  {d) 

On  the  other  hand,  that  portion  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  lying  east  of  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire,  which  was,  at  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  known  by 
the  name  of  Province  of  Maine,  and  extended  eastwardly  as  far  as  the  then  Province 
of  Nova  Scotia,  has  been  since  erected  into  a  State  by  the  name  of  Maine,  admitted 
as  such  into  the  Union,  and  is  now  contiguous  to  the  British  Provinces  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Lower  Canada,  (e) 

§1. 
The  ^meriean  Line  eatahliahed  by  the  terms  qf  the  Treaty. 


The  differences  and  doubts  which  had  formerly  existed  as  to  the  Boundary  on 
the  sea  shore,  between  the  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Massachusetts,  and  as  to 
what  was  the  true  River  St.  Croix,  have  now  been  definitively  settled. 

The  River  Scoodiac  has  been  authoritatively  declared  and  determined  to  be  the 
River  St  Croix  contemplated  by  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  and,  as  such,  to  be  the 
Boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  dominions,  ii'om  its  mouth  to  its 
most  northern  source.  In  conformity  with  the  Second  Explanatory  Article  of  15th 
March,  1798,  a  monument  has  been  erected  at  the  said  source,  vhich  is  mutually  ac- 
knowledged as  the  point  of  departure,  whence  the  Boundary  is  a  due  north  line  to  the 
Highlands  designated  by  the  treaty  of  1763.  What  are  the  Highlands  thus  designated, 
is,  therefore,  the  only  question  at  issue. 

As  the  description  of  the  Boundary  Line  of  the  United  States,  in  the  treaty  of 
1783,  commences,  so  also  it  terminates,  at  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  include  the  whole  line  from  the  River  St.  Croix  to  the  sources  of 
the  Connecticut  River,  it  is  necessary  to  bring  together  and  connect  the  former  and 
the  latter  clause  descriptive  of  the  Boundary,  in  the  second  article  of  the  treaty.  They 
arc  as  follows,  viz: 

"From  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  viz:  that  angle  which  is  formed  by 
a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source  of  St.  Croix  River  to  the  Highlands;  along 
the  said  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River 
St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  full  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost 

head  of  Connecticut  River, East  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the 

middle  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  from  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  its  source,  and 
from  its  source  directly  north  to  the  aforesaid  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that 
lull  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St  Lawrence." 

The  line  drawn  due  north,  or  directly  north,  from  the  source  of  the  River  St. 
Croix,  to  the  Highlands,  is  mentioned  in  both  clauses.  In  the  first,  the  Highlands,  at 
which  the  due  north  line  terminates,  are,  by  the  word  aaidy  which  almost  immediately 
follows,  identified  with  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  designated  by  the  trea- 
ty: and  ill  the  latter  clause,  the  same  north  line  is  declared  to  extend  to  the  aforesaid 
Highlands  which  divide  the  said  rivers. 


(c)  Written  Evidence,  No.  "-—{if)  Written  Erideocr,  No.  4 (f)  Written  Evidence,  No.  5. 


Iti(,therefor«,  evident,  that  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  contamplated  hj 
the  treaty,  bein)(formod  by  i|ic  interaeclioii  of  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source 
of  the  River  Ht.  Croix,  with  the  Highlands  whicii  divide  the  rivers  that  empty  them- 
selves into  the  Rivur  St  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ucean,  must 
be  found  on  the  very  Highlands  thus  described. 

Itis  equally  clear,  that,  inasmuch  as  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  must,  ne* 
cessarily,  be  formed  by  the  intersection  of  the  lines  constituting  the  northern  and 
western  Uoundarivs  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  Highlands  above  described,  viz:  the  High- 
lands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  were,  at  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  a  portion  of  the 
northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Scutia. 

Finally,  the  Boundary  Line,  through  its  whole  extent,  from  the  north.west  angle  oC 
Nvva  Scotia,  to  the  north-wc.tlcrnmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  must,  according  to 
the  express  words  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  be  along  the  said  Highlands  which  divide 
those  rivers  that  em^ty  themselves  into  the  River  St  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  Highlands,  therefore,  contemplated  by  the  treaty,  are  Highlands  which,  at  a 
point  due  north  from  the  source  of  the  River  St  Crois,  divide  the  rivers  falling  into, 
tlte  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  that  fall  into  the  River  St  .'^wrence;  Highlands,  ex- 
tending eastwardly  from  that  point(which  is  the  north-west  a  igle  of  Nova  Scotia,)  and 
continuing  for  gone  distance,  at  leaal,  in  that  direction,  to  d.'vide  the  rivers  as  afore- 
said, so  as  to  form  there  the  northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Saotiv;  Highlandsextending^ 
likewise,  south-westwnrdly,  from  the  same  point,  and  dividing  the  rivers  as  aforeMid,. 
the  whole  dihtance  from  the  said  point,  or  north-west  angle  of  Nova  S  otia,  to  the 
Dorth-we8ternmo«t  hrnd  of  Ccinecticut  River. 

The  words,''  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers," are  inseparable; the  term  "Highn 
lands,"  in  its  general  senae,  and  undefined  by  any  adjunct,  bein^oae  of  relative  im- 
port and  indeterminate  signification. 

Had,the  north-westangleof  Nova  Scotia  been  designated  prior  to  and  in  the  treaty, 
itself  only  as  formed  by  the  due  north  line  drawn  from  the  source  of  the  River  St 
Croix,  and  by  the  Highlands  generally,  without  stating  what  Highlands,  there  would 
have  been  no  ceitain  criterion  by  which  to  ascertain  what  were  the  Highlands  intend- 
ed.  Had  that  first  difficulty  been,  by  any  means,  removed,  it  might  have  been  equal- 
ly impracticable,  amongst  the  ditFercnt  lines  which  could  have  been  suggested  through, 
a  country  intersected  by  numerous  broken  ridges,  running  in  various  directions,  to  as> 
certain  which  was  entitled  to  preference;  and  how  the  Boundary  Line  was  to  be  sur- 
veyed to  the  nortli-wosternmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  if  that  lino  had  been 
designated  only  as  |)assing  along  the  Highlands,  without  expressly  pointing  out  what 
were  the  Highlands  intended. 

It  is  the  property  of  dividing  the  rivers,  therefore,  which  affixes  a  speeiiie  and  pre- 
cise meaning  to  the  general  expression  of  "  Highlands;"  and  which  determines 
both  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  Boundary  Line  extending  thence  to 
tlte  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River.  It  is  that  property,  what,  ia 
French,  is  called,  <'  Point  dc  Partage,"  which  constitutes  the  essence  of  the  treaty 
definition. 

The  limited  knowledge  which  had  been  obtained  in  the  year  1783,  of  the  face  of  the 
country,  rendered  it  impossible  to  recur  to  any  other  criterion  in  that  definition.  For. 
this  assertion  we  are  not  left  to  conjecture.  Mitchell's  map  exhibits  no  other  clear  and 
sufhciently  correct  features  of  the  topography  of  the  country  than  its  rivers  and  water- 
courses: it  was,  therefore,  in  reference  to  these  alone  that  the  negotiators  could  define 

the  boundary  line. 

3 


10 

AvoifJint;  aecoHini^ly  the  words,  "  mountains,"  "hills,"  or  any  such  as  might  have 
been  derived  from,  or  indicative  of,  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  ground,  the  general  ex- 
pression "Highlands"  was  adopted,  as  applicable  to  any  ground,  (whatever  might  be 
its  nature  or  elevation,)  along  which  the  line  dividing  the  rivers  should  be  found  to  pass: 
the  fact,  that  the  ground  dividing  rivers  is  necessarily  more  elevated  than  those  rivers 
and  the  country  adjacent  to  their  banks,  being  sufficient  to  entitle  it  to  the  designation 
of  "  Highland,"  in  relation  to  those  rivers  and  to  that  country.  (/) 

NoHighlandscandivide  the  rivers  tlyit  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  wiiich 
fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  but  those  Highlands  in  which  the  rivers  thus  desig- 
nated, or  their  tributary  streams,  have  their  rtspective  sources,  and  thence  flow  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  to  the  Ocean  and  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  respectively.  The  map  A. shews 
that  there  are,  along  the  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix, 
but  two  places  which  divide  rivers  thus  flowing  in  diiTerent  directions,  and  in  which 
those  rivers  have  their  respective  sources. 

The  due  north  line  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  crosses  no  other  rivers, 
for  a  distance  exceeding  ninety  miles,  but  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St.  John,  and 
that  river  itself.  There  is  not  along  the  line,  through  the  whole  of  that  distance,  a 
single  point  that  divides  rivers  falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  falling  into 
the  River  St.  Lawrence,  or  that  divides  any  other  water-courses  whatever,  but  such  as 
£tll  into  one  and  the  same  river,  viz:  the  River  St.  John. 

At  about  ninety-seven  miles  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  the  due  north 
line  reaches  a  ridge  or  Highland  which  divides  tributary  atrenms  of  the  River  St 
John,  which  falls  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  from  the  waters  of  the  River  Ristigouche, 
which  falls,  through  the  Bay  des  Chaleurs,  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  And,  in 
its  further  north  course,  the  said  line,  after  crossing  several  upper  branches  of  the  River 
Ristigouche,  reaches,  at  the  distance  of  about  144  miles  from  the  source  of  the  River 
St.  Croix,  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  waters  of  the  said  River  Ristigouche  from 
the  tributary  streams  of  the  River  Metis,  which  falls  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence. 
It  is  clear  that  there  is  no  other  possible  choice  but  between  those  two  places,  and  that 
the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  must,  of  necessity,  be  found  at  the  intersection  of 
the  said  due  north  line  with,  either  the  Highland  which  divides  the  waters  of  the  River 
St.  John  from  those  of  the  River  Ristigouche,  or  the  Highlands  which  divide  the 
waters  of  the  River  Ristigouche  from  those  of  the  River  Metis;  since  there  is  no  other 
point,  through  the  whole  course  of  the  due  north  line,  which  divides  any  other  waters 
but  such  as  empty  themselves  into  the  same  river,  (g) 

The  selection  between  those  two  dividing  Highlands  evidently  depends  on  what  is 
meant,  according  to  the  treaty  of  1783,  by  rivers  that  empty  themselves  or  fall  into 
the  River  St.  Lawrence,  and  by  rivers  \vhich  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  treaty  recognizes  but  two  classes  of  rivers.  The  first  class  embraces  only  the 
rivers  falling  into  a  river,  designated  by  its  specific  name,  and  cannot  be  construed  to 
include  any  rivers  that  do  not  empty  themselves  into  the  river  thus  specially  desig- 
nated. It  must  be  inferred  that  all  the  rivers  met  by  the  due  north  line,  which  do 
not  actually  empty  themselves  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  according  to  its  known 
limits,  are,  by  the  treaty,  considered  as  falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 


(/)  It  !■  not  intended  by  ttiese  observations,  eitlicrto  admit  that  tlie  ground  along  wliicli  the  line  con- 
tenileilforby  tlic  British  passes,  is,  in  the  tense  they  attach  to  the  word,  rntitled  lo  the  appellation  of 
"  Highlands,"  or  tliat  there  were  not  reasons  derived  from  usage  and  general  understanding  tor  adopting 
thai  term.  The  word  "  Highlands"  is  here  considcivd  only  in  its  general  sense,  and  u  it  stand*  in  the 
treaty.     See  hereafter  the  observations  on  the  Froclamatlon  of  IT63- 

(if)  Into  the  Hiver  St.  Jolin,  as  far  nortli  as  the  first  Highland  whicli  divides  the  waters  of  that  river 
from  liiose  of  the  Kistigouchcj  into  the  Hiver  H'stigouche,  between  tliut  first  Highland  and  those  whicU 
divide  the  waters  of  that  river  from  those  of  the  Uiver  Metis. 


II 

This  conclusion  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  what  is  understood  by  "  Atlantic 
Ocean"  in  the  usual  and  general  acceptation  of  the  term. 

"Sea,"  in  its  general  sense,  embraces  the  whole  body  of  salt  waters  en  the  globe; 
its  great  subdivisions  are  designated  by  the  names  of  Atlantic  Ocean,  Pacific,  Indian, 
Arctic,  Antarctic  Ocean,  &c.  and  each  of  these  is  a  generic  appellation,  embracing, 
when  not  specially  or  impliedly  excluded,  all  the  bays,  gulfs,  and  inlets  which  are  only 
portions  of  such  ocean,  being  formed  by  the  indentures  of  the  shores  to  which  it  does 
extend,  or  by  adjacent  islands. 

The  Northern  Atlantic  Ocean  extends  from  the  European  shores  to  those  of  North 
America.  In  its  general  sense,  it  embraces  all  the  bays,  gulfs,  and  inlets,  though  dis- 
tinguished by  distinct  names,  which  are  formed  by  the  shores  of  Europe  and  North 
America.  This  is  too  generally  admitted  in  geography  to  be  denied;  and  a  single 
quotation  from  a  popular  work,  will  be  adduced  by  way  of  illustration. 

"Scotland  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  England,  and  on  the  north,  east,  and  west,  by 
the  Deucaledonian,  German,  and  Irish  Seas;  or,  more  properly,  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  "(A) 

The  Atlantic  Ocean  is  here  explicitly  declared  to  embrace  the  Irish  Channel  and 
the  German  Sea,  although  there  is  no  portion  of  the  said  Ocean  more  usually  de- 
signated by  its  distinct  appellation  than  the  German  or  North  Sea. 

In  the  case  under  consideration,  not  only  is  the  generic  appellation  of  "  Atlantic 
Ocean"  used  as  distinguished  from,  and  contrasted  with,  the  River  St  Lawrence  alone, 
but  every  river  not  emptying  itself  into  the  said  river,  which  was,  or  could  possibly  have 
been  contemplated  by  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  as  falling  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  falls  into  it  through  some  intermediate  gtdf  or  bay,  known,  and,  in  Mitchell's 
map,  designated  by  a  specific  and  distinct  name:  that  is  to  say;  the  river  Ristigouche, 
through  tho  Bay  des  Chaleiirs,  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence;  the  river  St.  John, 
through  the  Bay  of  Fundy;  the  rivers  Magaguadavic,  (Mitchell's  St,  Croix)  and 
Scoodiac,  (Mitchell's  Pas.oamacrtdic)  through  the  Day  of  Passamaquoddy  and  the  Bay 
of  Fundy;  the  Penobscot  through  the  Bay  of  ihc  aamenamo;  the  Kennebec  through 
the  Sagadahock  Bay;  and  the  Connecticut  River  through  Long  Island  Sound,  which 
last  inlet  is  as  much  a  close  and  distinct  sea,  or  portion  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  more  so  than  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  So  that  if  the  rivers 
which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  through  a  gulf,  bay,  or  inlet,  known  by  a  distinct  name,  are 
not,  under  the  treaty  of  1783,  rivers  falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle river  that  could  have  been  contemplated  by  the  treaty  as  such,  to  which  the  de- 
scription applies. 

The  River  Ristigouche  is,  therefore,  as  clearly  embraced  by  the  words  "  rivers  fall- 
ing into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,"  as  either  the  River  St.  .John,  the  Penobscot,  or  the  Ken- 
nebec; and.  If  excepted,  it  must  be  by  virtue  of  some  other  provision  in  the  treaty. 

The  designation  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  by  that  special  name,  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  treaty,  is  not  sulTicicnt  to  narrow  the  meaning  of  the  words,  «'  rivers 
fiillinj:  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,"  used  as  they  are,  in  the  description  of  the  Boundary, 
in  their  general  sense  and  common  acceptation,  unless  it  can  be  shewn  that  the  special 
dertignulion  was  used  expressly  in  order  to  restrain  that  general  meaning,  and  not  for  a 
special  purpose. 

Whenever  it  is  intended  to  make  a  provision  applicable  only  to  a  particular  bay, 
gulf,  or  portion  of  the  ocean,  or  when  the  object  is  to  designate  with  precision  the 
situation  of  the  mouth  of  a  river,  or  of  some  other  place  lying  on  the  shore,  or  when 
it  appears  nccesssary,  in  order  to  remove  any  doubt  whatever,  the  distinct  name  of 
such  bay  or  gidf  must  necessarily  be  used.  The  special  appellation  being  thus  u.sed  in 
one  feiitence,  for  a  special  avowed  object,  is  applicable  to  that  object  alone,  and  can- 


(h)  Uutbrie'*  Geographical  Gr»intnir.  Written  Evidence,  No.  Q. 


12 

not  afleot  the  clear  and  express  meaning  of  another  sentenoe  in  the  treaty.  Still  less 
can  it  be  so  construed  in  relation  to  a  clause  in  which  the  generic  term,  "Atlantic 
Oceany"  is  used,  notonJy  witliout  restriction,  but  as  contradistinguished  from  theHiver 
St.  Lawrence  alone. 

The  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence  is  designated  by  itsspeoific  name  in  but  one  sentence  of 
the  treaty.  It  is  provided,  by  the  third  article,  "  that  the  people  of  the  United  Slates 
shall  continue  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  right  to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on  the  Grand 
Bank,  and  on  all  the  other  Banks  of  Newfoundland;  alao  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence,  and  at  all  o/A«r  places  in  the  Sea,  where  the  inhabitants  of  both  countries  used 
at  any  tinte  heretofore  to  fish." 

So  far  from  this  provision  having  any  bearing  on  the  clauses  in  which  the  rivers 
falling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  are  mentioned,  the  only  question  which  arises,  if,  why 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  was  at  all  mentioned,  since  the  provision  would  huve  ap- 
parently  been  as  complete,  had  that  name  been  omitted,  and  the  clause  had  simply  de- 
clared the  right  to  *ake  fish  to  extend  to  ''  all  places  in  the  Sea  where  the  inhabitants 
(MT  both  countries  used  heretofore  to  fish." 

The  reason  was,  that  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence  being  a  close  Sea,  the  shores  of 
which  did  belong  to  Great  Britain  exclusively,  (t)  a  doubt  might  have  arisen  whether, 
notwithstanding  the  general  provision,  the  people  of  any  other  nation  could  fish  there 
without  an  express  stipulation  to  that  effect.  Although  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence  is 
actually  declared  in  the  clause  to  be  a  place  in  the  Sea,  it  was  deemed  proper  to  name, 
it  expressly,  by  way  of  greater  caution,  and  in  order  to  remove  every  possible  doubt 
on  that  subject  And  the  meaning  of  the  clause  is,  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  shall  have  the  right  to  fish  at  all  places  in  the  Sea,  where,  &c.  without  even  ex- 
cepting the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  although  this  might  be  considered  as  under  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Great  Britain. 

It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  it  was  necessary,  in  the  same  article,  to  stipulate 
expressly  for  the  right  of  taking  fish  on  the  cua!<ts,  bays,  and  creeks,  of  all  other  of 
His  Britannic  Majesty's  dominions  in  America,  hs  otherwise,  some  of  those  bays, 
Sid.  though,  in  fact,  parts  of  the  Sea  wiicre  the  inhabitants  of  both  countries  used, 
prior  to  the  war,  to  fish,  might  have  been  cousidureJ  as  excepted,  by  reason  of  their 
being  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Great  Britain.  And  it  is  also  for  a  similar 
reason,  on  account  of  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain  on  the  subject  of  fisheries, 
that  It  was  even  deemed  necessary  to  inser;  an  oxpre.ss  provision  declaratory  of  the 
right  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  continue  to  take  lish  on  the  Grand  Bank, 
and  the  other  Banks  of  Newfoundland;  although  those  Banks  cuuid  not  be  denied 
to  be  "places  in  the  Sea,"  and  might  certainly  have  been  considered  as  included 
within  that  general  term. 

Since  the  specific  designation,  in  the  third  article,  of  the  "  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence," 
for  a  special  purpose,  cannot  narrow  the  meaning  of  the  generic  term  "Atlantic 
Ocean,"  when  used  for  a  general  purpose,  and  without  restriction,  the  only  question 
is,  whether  the  Kiver  Kistigouche  can,  by  any  cunslruciion,  be  considered  as  falling 
into  the  River  St.  Lawr<'nce. 

The  similarity  of  names,  and  the  character  of  thiit  river,  might  rcn<lcr  it  some- 
what difficult  to  ascertain  the  precise  place  where  it  terminates,  ami  where  the  Gulf 
commences,  which  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  in  b  great  degree  arbitrary.  The 
doubts  in  that  respect  arc,  however,  removed  by  an  authority,  which,  as  to  that  point, 
appears  conclusive. 


(i)  AHIiougti  the  French  had,  »ml  »till  have,  the  rijlit  to  take,  and  even  to  ilry,  fiih  on  the  wea'am 
coMt  of  Newfoundland,  the  soviTei(;nty  of  tlie  IsUnd  reinainii  with  Urrat  iiiitain,  by  virtue  uf  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht.     Written  Evidence,  No.  7. 


13 

By  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Proolnmation  of  the  7th  of  October,  1763,  for 
Erecting  the  Clovernmeiu  of  Quebec  ami  other  purposes,  that  Government  or  Pro- 
vince is  declared  to  be  bounded,  on  the  Labrador  Co»st,  by  the  River  St.  John,  (k) 
and  its  eastern  Boundary  Irom  Cape  Rosier*  is  aflerWsrag  described  in  the  following 
words,  viz:  "  And  from  thence  crossing  the  mouth  6f  the  River  St.  Lawrence  by 
the  west  end  of  the  Island  of  Anticosti,  terminates  at  Oio  aforesaid  River  St. 
John."  (/) 

All  the  rivers,  the  mouths  of  which  lie  west  of  the  said  Boondary,  as  delineated 
in  the  American  transcript  of  map  A,  are  thereby  declared  lo  empty  themselves 
above  the  mouth  of,  and  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  All  the  rivers,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  mouths  of  which  are  east  of  the  said  Boundary,  or  south  of  Cape  Rosiers, 
{m)  incluiliiig  the  Rivtr  Ristigouche,  are  declared  to  empty  themselves  below  the 
mouth  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  and  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  through  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.  ^ 

The  nurth-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  described  in  the  treaty  of  17»3,  is  there- 
fore formed  by,  and  determinad  to  be  at  the  intersection  of  the  line  fq-awn  due 
north  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  (being  the  point  A  in  the  map  A,  and 
about  144  miles  from  the  said  source,)  with  the  Highlands  that  divide  the  tributary 
streams  of  the  RLstigouche,  which  falls  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  the  triliutary 
Streams  of  a  river  emptying  itself  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  and  presumed,  ac- 
cording to  the  map  A,  to  1)0  the  River  Metis.  The  said  Highlands,  from  the  said 
north- west  angle,exlend  south-wesi  wardly  to  the  north-westernmost  I'ead  of  Connecti- 
cut River,  and  eastwardly,  to  G.-ispc,  dividing  the  whole  .vay  the  wafers  of  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  from  those  of  the  River  St.  l^awrence. 

The  said  north-we-st  aii^le  of  Nova  Scotia  is  formed  by  the  intersection  of  the 
said  due  north  line,  which  i<t  the  western  IJoiindary  of  Nova  Scotia,  with  the  High- 
lands which,  from  the  point  of  inlersection,  extend  eastwardly,  and,  f^rsonie  distance 
at  least,  must  be  the  northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  so  as  to  forni  the  said  north- 
west angle  according  to  the  treaty. 

And  the  Boundary  Liix  between  the  dominions  of  the  two  Powers,  as  describ- 
ed by  the  said  treaty,  (;nid  delineated  on  the  map  A,)  extends  due  north  from  the 
source  of  the  river  St.  Croix,  about  111  miles  to  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia, 
as  above  desoiihed;  and  thoncc  along  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  emp- 
ty (heniselvcs  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  the  tributary  streams  of  the  River 
Ris'.igoiiclie,  of  the  River  St.  John,  and  of  the  other  rivers  which  fall  into  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost  head  (whatever  this  may  be)  of  the  Connecti- 
cut River:  so  that  the  said  line  does,  through  its  whole  extent,  (from  the  said  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  the  saitl  norlh-we.sternmost  head  of  Connecticut  river,) 
pass  between  the  sources  of  the  said  rivers,  leaving,  on  the  right  hand,  and  within 
the  dominions  of  Gnat  Hriiain,  the  sources  and  all  the  waters  of  the  rivers  empty- 
ing themselves  into  the  liiver  St.  L.iwrenro;  and,  on  the  left  hand,  and  within  the 
dominions  of  the  United  Slates,  the  sources  and  all  the  waters  (lying  west  ofthciine 


(/.)    I'liis  tJiviT  St   .lolin,  mi  tlic  l.alinidor  dust,   iniiiit    nol  br  cnnfoiiiuled  with  llie  l'-te»t  Hirer  St. 
,I(f!iii  v^tiii.h  fiillii,  lla'oug!)  tiii>  ll:)y  ut  I'liiiil),  iiitt>  tiic  .Vtluntic  Oclmd. 

(/)  Atl  tlif  nmps  aililiiced  ill  eviilcnce  ii(,'vi.-f  wiili  tliit  (liiijjiialioii  of  llie   Itivcr  St.  Lawrence.     See, 
imongst  utiicrs,  'l'(i|i('|;iM|iliiciil  Kvideiice,  I'riiitcd  Maps,  No.  50, 

(m)  Accotdiiig  t.)  Jaiiifn  tlu"  Fiitit's  drmt  of  Nova  Scolia  to  Sir  W.  A'exaiuter,  .'n  16^1,  the  liiver  St. 
I.a«  rciice  He  ems  to  Imvc  been  oiulcriiliKxl  to  extcmi  as  fir  Simtli  at  least,  an  ti.iye,  winch  lies  between 
Cap'  ltosirr«an(l  Hay  des  Clialeiin.  'I'lie  words  are  "it  ali  lo  perjjendii  yiibu'^  antnXvm  pir  marl.i  nrai 
til  oratet  ■jiistlem  Jhirii  i/ir  Vimmlii,  ad  ll'iviuiii,  utaiioncin  iiavium,  portuin  nut  liitua  commuiutvrnomiiie  de 
Gacliepe  vel  tinipe  iiotiim  ct  »ppelli«tum." 
4 


14 

drawn  dtie  north  from  the  source  of  the  Rivier  St.  Croix,)  of  the  Hirers  Ristigouehe 
and  St.  John,  as  well  as  of  all  the  other  Rivers  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

It  is  believed  that  a  single  glance  at  the  map  A,  comparing  it  with  the  words  of 
the  treaty  will,  instantaneously,  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.  To  prove  what,  from 
the  tenor  of  the  treaty  is  <elf.evident,  presents  no  other  difficulty  than  what  is  inhe- 
rent to  any  attempt  to  demonstrate  an  axiom  or  self-evident  truth.  In  such  an  at- 
tempt, the  danger  is  incurred  of  obscurinK  what  needed  no  illustration.  An  apology 
for  having  said  so  much  will  probably  be  found  in  the  positions  which  the  other  party 
i^  compelled  to  assume. 

§2. 
Ancient  Provincial  Boundaries  as  established  ii/ former  authentic  acts. 


The  United  States  migh'.  safely  rest  their  case  on  what  precedes.  When  th© 
terms  of  a  treaty  are  clear  and  explicit;  when  their  meaning  is  susceptible  of  but  one 
construction,  it  is  not  necessary  to  resort  to  any  other  source  of  arguments.  Still 
it  is  permitted  to  seek  for  the  intentions  of  the  parties  in  the  instrument  itself:  and  as 
such  of  the  proceedings  connected  with  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty  of  peace  as 
have  been  preserved,  have  been  adduced  as  evi<lence,  and  will  probably  be  resorted 
to  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  it  may  not  be  useless,  though  it  may  be  deemed  su- 
perfluous, to  examine  whether  there  is,  as  connected  with  those  proceedings,  any 
proof,  on  the  fice  of  the  instrument,  of  the  avowed  intentions  of  the  parties. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  the  I4lh  of  Augusi,  1778^agreed  to  a 
draft  of  instructions  to  the  Commissioner  to  be  appointed  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  Great  Britain.  As  part  of  those  instructions,  the  Boundaries  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  are  declared  to  be  as  folluw.s,  viz: 

"  These  States  are  bounded  north  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  from  the  north-west  an- 
gle of  Nova  Scotia,  along  the  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  wiiich  empty 
themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic 

Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  river; 

,     .     .     and  east,  by  a  line  to  bo  drawn  along  the  middle  of  St.  John  River,  from  its 

source  to  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy, if  the 

eastern  Boundary  above  described  cannot  be  obtained,  you  are  hereby  empowered 
to  agree,  that  the  same  shall  be  afterwa'-ds  adjusted  by  Commissioners,  to  be  duly  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  according  to  such  lineasshiill  be  by  tliem  settled  and  agreed 
on,  as  the  Boundary  between  that  part  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  formerly 
called  the  Province  of  Maine,  and  the  Colony  of  Nova  Scotia,  agreeably  to  their  re- 
spective riglits."  (n) 

In  a  report  of  a  Committee  of  Congress,  presented  16th  August,  1782,  it  is  con- 
fessed that  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  "  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Saga- 
dahock,  cannot  be  proved  to  extend  to  the  river  St.  John  as  clearly  as  to  that  of  St. 
Croix."  (o) 

Congress  had,  previously,  by  their  final  instructions  of  the  1 5th  of  June,  1781, 
modified  those  of  the  14th  of  August,  1779,  and  directed  their  Ministers  "  to  accede 
to  no  treaty  of  {jcace  which  should  nut  secure  the  independence  and  Sovereignty  of 
the  Thirteen  States,  or  inconsistent  with   the  treaties  subsisting  between   them  and 

(n)  Sfcret  JuiirimU  o»'  (Jonyress,  Vol.  2,  p«i;e  225.     Written  Evijencc,  No.  8. 
(o)  Secret  Journali  of  CongrtM,  Vol.  3,  p«^c  171.     Written  Evidence,  No,  8. 


15 

Prance;"  upon  every  other  subject  tying  them  up  by  no  absolute  and  peremptory  di- 
rections; but  still  referring  to  the  former  instructions  as  expressive  of  the- desires  and 
expectations  of  Congress,  (p) 

In  conformity  with  those  instructions,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  John  Jay,  two  of 
the  Commissioners  of  the  United  States,  in  the  first  propositions  made  by  them  and 
agreed  upon,  on  the  8th  ol  October,  1782,  between  them  and  Richard  Oswald,  tho 
British  Commissioner,  (but  to  be  submitted  to  His  Britannic  Majesty's  consideration,) 
defined  the  Boundaries  of  the  United  States  in  precise  conformity  with  the  first  part 
of  the  instructions  of  14lh  August,  1779. 

But  these  being  objected  to,  the  other  alternative,  as  contained  in  the  subsequent 
part  ol  the  same  instructions,  was  substituted,  agreed  to  before  the  articles  were  sent 
to  London,  and  a  memorandum  to  that  eflect  annexed  to  them  in  the  following  words, 
viz:  "  Alteration  to  be  made  in  the  treaty  respecting  the  Boundaries  of  Nova  Scotia, 
viz:  east,  the  true  line  between  which  and  the  United  States  shall  be  settled  by  com- 
missioners, as  soon  as  conveniently  may  bo  after  the  war."  (q) 

Counter-proposals  were  transmitted  from  London,  which  have  not  been  preserv- 
ed, (r)  It  appears  only  that  much  contestation  took  place  about  the  I'oundaries  and 
other  articles;  the  British  contending,  at  first,  that  Nova  Scotia  should  extend  to  the 
River  Kennebec;  then  to  Penobscot;  and,  at  length,  agreeing  to  the  River  St.  Croix; 
and  one  of  the  American  Ministers  at  first  proposing  the  River  St.  John;  but,  on  the 
observation  that  St.  Croix  was  the  River  mentioned  in  («)  the  Charter  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  agreeing  with  them  to  adhere  to  the  said  Charter,  (t) 

Whatever  may  have  passed  in  conversation,  or  in  the  course  of  the  negotiations,^ 
it  is  certain  that  the  American  Commissioners  had  first  proposed  the  River  St.  John 
as  the  Boundary;  that,  to  that  proposal,  they  substituted  that  of  leaving  the  true 
Boundary  Line  between  Nova  Scotia  and  the  United  States,  to  be  settled  by  Com- 
missioners, after  the  peace,  to  which  the  British  Commissioner  agreed  provisionally; 
and  that,  finally,  availing  themselves  of  the  discretion  given  to  them  by  the  instruc- 
tions of  15th  June,  1781,  it  was  ultimately  agreed,  instead  of  leaving  the  Boundary 
in  that  unsettled  situation,  to  define  it  in  the  treaty  itself. 

The  clear  inference  is,  that  the  confirmation  of  the  Boundary  Line  between  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  and  the  other  British  Provinces,  as  it  existed  prior  to  the 
hostilities,  was  adopted  as  the  basis  of  that  part  of  the  treaty;  and  the  words  used  in 
the  treaty  itself  shew,  that  such  was  the  intention  in  relation  to  the  whole  Boundary 
Line. 

By  the  first  article  of  the  treaty,  His  Britannic  Majesty  acknowledges  the  Unit- 
ed Slates,  viz:  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  &c.,  to  be  free,  sovereign,  and 
independent  States, and  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  successors,  re- 
linquishes all  claims  to  the  Government,  propriety  and  Terriloriai rights  ol  ihc  same, 
and  every  part  thereof.  The  second  article  then  proceeds  as  follows,  viz:  "  and  that 
all  disputes  which  might  arise  in  future,  on  the  subject  of  the  Boundary  of  the  said 
United  States,  may  be  prevented,  it  is  hereby  agreed  and  declared  that  the  following 
are  and  shall  be  their  Boundaries,  viz:  from /Ac  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,"  &c. 

(/))  Secret  Jouriiili  ol  Cjnjresi,  Viil.  3,  page  445.     Written  Kvidtnce,  No.  8. 
((/)  Kiliachi  rrniii  Dr.  Frank liii'a  Cnrre»|)om!ence.     Written  Kvidencf,  No.  9. 

(r)  Tlie  I'aper  Nii.  J,  mentioned  in  Dr.  Fr»nklin'«  Letter  of  ith  December,  ir82,  hat  not  bi-enrnund 
in  the  Arcliivea  of  the  Unite  1  States,  ami,  not  havings  been  adduced  in  evidence  by  the  Uritiih  (iorem- 
menf,  who  have  quoted  No.  1  (the  article!  above  mentioned)  from  Franklin's  Printed  t'orrcipondence, 
ia  presumed  to  be  hut. 

(«)  The  Hiver  St.  Croix  is  not  mentioned  in  tliat  Charter.  The  statement  should  have  been,  that  it 
must  be  inferred  from  the  Cliarter,  at  connected  with  other  documents,  that  the  St.  Croix  wan  the  Boun- 
dary. 

(()  Exlracti  fnm  Dr.  Franklin't  Correspundence.    Written  F.vidence,  N".  0. 


16 

The  acknowlednniont  of  the  severai  G.ates,  by  their  several  names,  Massachu- 
setts Bay  (u)  included,  the  relinquishment  of  all  claims  to  the  territorial  rights  of^the 
same,  the  provision  by  which  it  is  not  only  agreed  what  shall  be,  but  declared  what 
rtre  their  Boundaries,  and  the  reference  to  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  as  a 
point  the  position  of  which  was  already  understood  by  the  two  Powers,  concur  all, 
in  connexion  with  the  proposals  previously  made,  to  prove  the  intention  of  the  par- 
ties to  have  been  to  confirm,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  Moundaries  of  the  Slates,  and  of 
Masiachusetts,  particularly,  as  they  had  been  established  when  British  Provinces. 
And  it  may  be  added  that  this,  in  addition  to  the  clear  and  express  intentions  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  designation  of  the  Boundary  itself,  is  the  only  avowed  intention  of  the 
parlies  that  can  be  inferred  from,  or  be  found  in  the  body  of  the  treaty. 

What  were  those  Provincial  Boundaries  is  now  to  be  examined.  The  conflicting 
claims  of  France  will  not,  in  the  inquiry,  be  idverted  to  further  than  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  explanation,  since  the  fate  of  arms  decided  against  her;  and  since,  be- 
tween the  present  parties,  documents  emanating  from  Great  Britain  are,  alone,  au- 
thoritative in  questions  relating  to  the  iSoundaries  of  what  were  formerly  British 
Provinces. 

By  a  charter  of  the  10th  of  September,  1621,  Jsmes  I.  granted  to  Sir  William 
Alexander  ^.certain  territory,  under  the  name  of  "  Nova  Scotia,"  willi  the  follow- 
ing Boundaries:  (v) 

"  Beginning  at  Cape  Sable,  in  43°  north  latitude,  or  thereabout,  extending 
thence  weslwardly  along  the  Sea  shore,  to  the  road  commonly  called  St.  Mary's  Bay; 
thence  towards  the  north  by  a  direct  line  crossing  the  entrance  or  mouth  of  that  great 
ship  road,  which  runs  into  the  eastern  tract  of  land  between  the  territories  of  the 
Souriqpois  and  of  the  Etchemins,  (Bay  of  Furdy,)  to  the  river  commonly  called  St. 
Croix,  and  to  the  most,  remote  spring  or  source,  which,  from  the  western  part  there- 
of, first  mingles  itself  with  the  river  aforesaid;  from  thence,  by  an  imaginary  di- 
rect line,  which  may  be  conceived  to  stretch  through  the  land,  or  to  run  towards 
the  north,  to  the  nearest  road,  river  or  spring  emptying  itself  into  the  great  river  de 
Canada;  (River  St.  Lawrence;)  and  from  thence  proceeding  eastwardly  along  the 
Sea  shores  of  the  said  river  de  Canada,  to  the  river,  road,  port,  or  shore  commonly 
known  and  called  by  the  name  of  Gachepe  or  Uaspe;  and  thence  south-oastwarclly 
to  the  islands  called  Bacealeos  or  Cape  Breton,  leaving  these  islands  on  the  right, 
and  the  Gulf  ol  tiie  said  great  river  de  Canada  or  of  the  great  ship  road,  and  the  lands 
of  Newfoundland,  with  the  islands  to  the  same  pertaining,  on  the  loft;  and  thence  to 
the  headland  or  promontory  of  Cape  Breton  aforesaid,  lying  near  the  latitude  of  45 
degrees,  or  thereabout;  and  from  the  said  Promontory  of  Cape  Breton,  towards  the 
south  and  west,  to  Cape  Sable  aforesaid,  where  the  pcra:nl)ulaiion  began, 

.     all   which   lands  aforesaid,   shall  at  ail  times  iicrealter  be  called   and 
known  by  the  name  of  Nova  Scotia,  or  New  Scotland,  in  America."  {w) 

The  description  of  the  limits  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  that  first  charter,  which  gave  the 
name  to  the  territory,  has  evidently  been  the  model  from  which  all  the  subsequent 
designations  of  its  Boundaries  have  been  borrowed.  Although  the  western  Boimdary 
thereby  assigned  to  Nova  Scotia  is  nearly  the  same  as  the  eastern  Boundary  of  the 


(u)  I)esi);n»tiiig it,  in  tlie  treaty,  by  the  name  iiiuler  wliich  it  li»<l  lietn  known  wlivn  a  <lritibl)  I'ro- 
tinct,  utiil  not  by  tliat  of  M'luiach'iiells,  which  since  the  year  17bO,  was  itH  li'pal  nami'  us  u  Stale.  The 
territorial riglils relinquished,  arr,  tlitrerore,  tliose  within  her  lli<nn(larie!i  wtii  Fruvince,  unless  so  farns 
luch  Boundaries  were  altered  by  the  wonU  of  the  Irtaiy. 

(»)  Written  Kvid^nce,  No.  tO. 

(w)  This  grant  was  confirmed,  in  the  same  words,  by  a  subsequent  Charter  of  Cliarles  I.  dated  13tli 
July,  ie.25. 


ir 

United  States,  as  described  by  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  they  differ  in  the  follow- 
ing particular:): 

1st  The  western  source  of  the  River  St  Croix  appears  to  have  been  intended 
by  Sir  William  Alexander's  Charter;  but  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  the  said  river,  from 
its  mouth  to  its  source,  without  particularly  designating  which  source,  is  made  the 
Boundary:  and  this,  as  already  stated,  has  been  decided  to  be  the  river  from  its  mouth 
to  the  source  of  its  north  branch. 

8nd.  The  line  from  the  sourc*  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  is,  according  to  the  Char- 
ter, to  run  towards  the  north,  (versus  septentrionem;)  by  the  treaty,  it  must  run  due 
north,  or  directly  north. 

3d.  The  said  line,  by  the  Charter,  runs  to  the  nearest  river  or  spring  emptying 
itself  into  iho  River  St  Lawrence,  and  by  the  treaty,  to  the  Highlands  dividing  the 
rivers,  &c.  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  Highlands  in  which  the  rivers  emptying  them- 
selves into  the  River  St  Lawrence  have  their  sources.  But,  by  the  treaty,  the  said 
north  line  terminates  at  the  said  Highlands  or  sources,  whilst,  by  the  Charier,  it  ex- 
tends thence  to  the  banks  of  the  River  St  Lawrence  itself.  By  the  Charter,  there- 
fore, the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  was  to  be  found  on  the  bank  uf  the  River  St 
Lawrence;  by  the  treaty  it  is  designated  as  being  on  the  Highlands.  This  last  differ- 
ence arose  from  the  acts  of  the  British  Government,  subsequent  to  the  year  1762,  es- 
tablishing the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  which  will  be  hereafter 
mentioned. 

On  the  3d  of  April,  1639,  Charles  I.  icranted  to  Ferdinando  Gorges,  by  the  name 
of  Province  or  County  of  Maine,  a  territory  bounded  on  the  west  by  Pascataway  Har- 
bor and  the  River  Newichewanocke,  (Fiscataqua  River,)  to  the  furthest  head  thereof, 
extending  from  Pascataway  Harbor,  north-eastwards,  along  the  Sea  Coast  to  Sagada* 
hock,  (the  River  Kennebec  below  the  uoiifluence  of  the  River  Androscoggin,)  and  up 
the  river  thereof  to  Kynybecky  River,  and,  through  the  same,  to  the  head  thereof, 
&c,  {X) 

This  grant  was  purchased  in  the  year  1674,  by  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts; 
(y)  and  although  the  name  of  Maine  has  since  been  extended  to  the  country,  east- 
wardly,  as  far  as  the  Boundaries  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  ancient  Province  of  Maine,  ac- 
cording to  the  aforesaid  original  grant,  was  bounded,  on  the  east,  by  the  River  Saga- 
dahock  or  Kennebec. 

On  the  12th  of  March,  1663,  Charles  H.  granted  to  his  brother  James,  Duke  of 
York,  "  all  that  part  of  the  main  land  of  New-England,  beginning  at  a  certain  place 
called  or  known  by  the  name  of  St.  Croix,  adjoining  to  New  Scotland  in  America;  and 
from  thence  extending  along  the  Sea  Coast,  unto  a  certain  place  called  Pemaquin  or 
Pemaquid,  and  soup  the  River  thereof  to  the  furthest  head  of  the  same  as  ittendeth 
northwards,  and  extending  from  thence  to  the  River  of  Kennebec,  and  so  up,  by  the 
shortest  course,  to  the  River  of  Canada,  northwards"  (2)  This  last  described  territory, 
to  which  the  name  of  Maine  has  since  extended,  is  that  which,  in  ancient  maps,  is 
called  Sagadahock;  and  it  will  be  perceived  that  it  extended  northward  to  the  River 
St  Lawrence. 

Grent  Rritain  having,  by  the  lOlh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Breda,  concluded  on  the 
31st  of  July,  l()G7,  agreed  to  restore  to  France  the  country  called  Acadia,  situated  ia 
North  America,  which  had  formerly  been  in  the  most  Christian  King's  possession, 
(a)  the  Duke  of  York  obtained  from  Charles  H.  a  subsequent  confirmation  of  his 


(X)  WriUen  Evidence,  No.  U. 
(y)  Written  Evidence,  No.  11. 
(i)  Written  Evidence,  No.  12. 
(a)  Written  Evidence,  No.  7. 


IS 

grant,  bearing  dete  the  29th  of  June,  1674.  (A)  This  second  grant  or  confirmation 
shews  that,  in  the  reslonlion  of  Acadia,  Great  Britain  did  not  mean  to  include  any 
territory  west  of  the  St.  Croix;  and  the  said  confirmation  was  obviously  asked  and  grant- 
ed in  order  to  remove  any  doubts  on  that  suliject.  The  territory  was  aftcrwar  Is  go- 
verned under  the  authority  of  iho  Duke  of  York,  (c)  and,  at  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
merged  in  the  crown. 

The  three  above  described  territories,  Nova  Scotia,  the  ancient  Province  of 
Maine,  and  Sagadahock,  or  the  Duke  of  York's  (irant,  were  by  the  last  Charter  of 
Massachusetts,  granted  on  the  7th  of  October,  1691,  by  William  and  Mary,  annexed 
to  the  then  Colony  of  Massachusetts'  Bay,  as  will  appear  by  the  following  extracts  of 
the  said  Charter,  (d) 

•<  We  ....  will  and  ordain  that  the  territories  and  colonies  commonly 
called  or  known  by  the  names  of  the  Colony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  Colony  of 
New  Plymouth,  (these  forming  the  now  State  of  Massachusetts,  or  Massachusetts 
Proper,)  the  Province  of  Main,  the  Territory  called  Accadia  or  Nova  Scotia  and  all 
that  tract  of  land  lying  between  the  said  Territories  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  said  Pro- 
vince of  Main,   be  united,  erected,  and  incorporated by  the 

name  of  our  Province  of  Massachusetts'  Bay,  in  New  England;  ....  and 
do  give  and  grant  unto  our  said  subjects  the  inhabitants  of  our  said  Province  or  Terri- 
tory of  the  Massachusetts'  Bay,  and  their  successors,  all  that  part  of  New  England,  in 

Ainerica, and  all  the  lands    and   hereditaments  whatsoever,    lying 

within,  (here  the  limits  of  Massachusetts  Proper  and  of  the  ancient  Province  of  Maine 
are  described,)  and  also  the  lands  and  hereditaments  lying  and  being  in  the  Country  or 
Territory  commonly  called  Accadia,  or  Nova  Scotia;  and  all  those  lands  and  heredita- 
ments lying  and  extending  between  the  said  Country  or  Territory  of  Nova  Scotia, 
and  the  said  River  of  Sagadahock.  (the  Eastern   Boundary  of  ancient  Maine,)  or  any 

part  thereof; Provided  also  that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the 

said  Governor  and  General  Assembly,  (of  the  Province  erected  by  this  Charter,)  to 
make  or  pass  any  grant  of  lands  lying  within  the  bounds  of  the  colonies  formerly  called 
the  Colonies  of  the  Massachusetts'  Bay,  and  New  Plymouth  and  Province  of  Maine,, 
in  such  manner  as  heretofore  they  might  have  done  by  virtue  of  any  former  Charter  or 
letters  patents;  which  grants  of  lands  within  the  bounds  aforesaid,  we  do  hereby  will 
and  ordain  to  be  and  continue  forever  of  full  force  and  eflect,  without  our  further  ap- 
probation or  consent;  and  so  as,  nevertheless,  and  it  is  our  royal  will  and  pleasure,  that 
no  grnit  or  grants  of  any  lands  lyinyi  or  extending  from  the  River  of  Sagad.ihock  to  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Canada  R  vers,  and  to  the  main  Sea  northward  and  east- 
ward, to  bf  made  or  passed  by  the  Governor  and  General  Assembly  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, be  of  any  force,  validity,  or  effect,  until  we,  our  heirs  and  successors,  shall  have 
signified  our  or  their  approbation  of  the  same." 

It  must  be  observed  that,  according  to  that  Charter,  both  Nova  Scotia  and  the  ter- 
ritory between  it  and  the  River  Kennebec  (or  Sagadahock)  extended  on  the  north  as 
far  as  the  River  St  Lawrence:  and  that  grants  of  land  made  in  either,  by  the  Governor 
and  General  A.ssembly  of  the  province,  re(|iiired  the  approbation  of  the  King;  so  that, 
in  order  to  be  valid,  such  grants  required  both  his  consent  and  that  of  the  Provincial 
Government. 

No  other  reason  can  be  assigned  for  having  thus  annexed  to  the  Province  of  .Mas- 
sachusetts, .Nova  Scotia,  or  Acadia,  which  had  been  restored  to  France  by  the  treaty 
of  Breda,  than  the  state  of  war  existing  between  the  two  countries,  in  the  year  1691, 


(A)  Written  Evilence,  No.  12. 
{c\  W  rittcn  Kvid.iice,  No.  12. 
(d)  Written  Evidence,  No.  13. 


19 

when  Vmt  Charter  was  (granted.  Great  Brituiii,  however,  agreed  by  the  treaty  at' 
Ryswick,  of  20ih  Si  jilt  iuIjoi,  I(i!>7,  to  rolore  lo  France  ''all  countries,  islandH,  forts, 
•ml  colonics,  wheresoever  situated,  which  the  French  did  posseM  before  the  declara- 
tion of  war."  (e)  Acadia,  or  Nova  Scotia,  being  clearly  embraced  by  those  expres- 
sions, and  being  thus  severed  from  the  Hrilish  Dominions,  the  clause  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts' Charter  which  annexed  tlat  territory  to  Massachusetts,  was  virtually  re|)eal- 
ed,  and  became  a  nullity .  'I'ho  lUiderslanding  of  the  British  Government  of  the  extent 
of  that  restitution,  will  Li;  found  in  the  following  sentence  of  a  letter  from  the  Lords 
of  the  Board  of  'I  radc,  dated  3()ih  October,  1700,  to  the  Larl  of  Bellamont,  the  Go- 
vernor of  Massachusetts,  viz:  "  As  to  the  Boundaries,  we  have  always  insisted,  and 
shall  insist,  upon  the  English  right,  as  far  as  the  River  St.  Croix."  (/) 

France  having,  by  the  12ih  article  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  of  1713,  ceded  to 
Great  Britain  ••All  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadie,  with  its  ancient  Boundaries,"  (^)  that 
Province  was  not  reannexed  to  Massacliusctts'  Bay,  from  which  it  had  been  severed 
by  virtue  of  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick:  hut  it  was  erected  by  the  British  Government 
into  a  separate  Province.  Richard  Phillips  was  its  first  Governor,  and  he  is,  in  his 
Commission,  dated  the  Ulh  of  September,  1719,  designated  as  "Captain  General  and 
Governor  in  Chief  in  and  over  our  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadie  in  America," 
without  any  description  of  the  limits  of  the  Province.  The  samn  style,  and  without 
any  designation  of  its  Boundaries,  is  preserved  in  the  subsequent  Commissions  of  the 
Governors  of  Nova  Scotia,  till  the  year  17t)J.  (A) 

The  territory  lying  lietwcen  Nova  Scotia  and  the  River  Sagadahock  (or  Kenne- 
beck)  remained  a  part  of  Massachusetts'  Bay  according  to  its  Charter.  A  question 
arose,  hoxvevcr,  some  years  afterwards,  in  that  respect,  which  having  been  referred  to 
the  Law  OlTicers  of  the  frown,  (the  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General,!  they  gave  it  as 
their  opinion,  (dated  August  1  Uh,  17;<1,)  Th.it  all  the  tract  of  land  lying  between  tho 
Rivers  of  Kenneboc  and  St  Croix,  is  granted  by  their  Charter  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
said  Province;  that  the  rights  of  Government  granted  to  the  said  Province  extend  over 
this  tract  of  land:  That  it  does  not  ap|K!ar  tl)at  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Province 
have  been  guilty  of  any  such  negk-ct  or  refusal  to  defend  this  part  of  the  Country,  as 
can  create  a  forfeiture  of  that  subordinate  right  of  (Jovernment  of  the  same,  or  of  such 
property  in  the  soil,  as  was  granted  to  them  by  the  said  Charter:  That  if  the  Province 
had  incurred  any  forfeiture  in  the  present  case,  no  advantage  could  be  taken  thereof, 
but  by  a  legal  proccecing,  by  scire  f  icias  to  repeal  their  Charter,  or  by  inquisition  find- 
ing such  forfeiture:  That  the  said  tract  of  Country,  not  having  been  yielded  by  the 
Crown  of  England  to  France  by  any  treaty,  the  conquest  thereof  by  the  French  ci'eated 
(according  to  the  Law  of  Nations)  only  a  suspension  of  the  projierty  of  the  former  own- 
ers, and  not  an  extinguishment  of  it:  and  that  upon  the  reconquest  of  it,  by  General 
Nicholson,  all  the  ancient  rights,  both  of  the  Province  and  of  private  persons,  subjects 
of  the  Grown  of  Great  Britain,  diil  revive  and  were  restored  _/ are />o*/ ////»/«/»'.  Whence 
they  conclude  that  the  said  Charter  still  remains  in  lorce,  and  that  the  Crown  hath  not. 
power  to  appoint  a  particular  Governor  over  this  part  of  the  Province,  or  to  assiga 
lands  to  persons  oesirous  to  settle  there;  nor  can  the  Province  grant  these  lands  to 
private  proprietors  without  the  approbation  of  the  Crown,  according  to  the  Char- 
ter. (/) 

The  questions  thus  at  that  time  agitated,  were  presumed,  till  the  year  1763,  to 
have  been  put  at  rest  by  that  opinion.      In  Mitchell's  map,  published  in  the  year  1755, 


(f)  Wrilldi  Kviilence,  No.  7. 
(/)   WiiUrn  Kvidciicf,  No.  14. 
(j()  Written  F.vlileiice,  No.  7. 
(A)  Writtni  Kvidfiice,  No.  15. 
(i)  Written   Evidence,  No,  16^. 


flO 

the  Rirer  St.  Croix,  and  •  due  north  line  from  its  source  to  the  River  St.  Liwroncc, 
are,  accordingly,  made  the  Boundary  between  Nova  Scotin  and  New  England;  (*) 
embracing,  under  this  last  designation,  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  by  the  name 
of  Sagadahock.  Both  Nova  Scotia  and  New  England  are,  in  that  map,  published 
with  the  approbation  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  bounded  to  the  north  by  the  River  St. 
Lawrence.  (/)  And  that  riv.;r  continued  accordingly,  to  be  the  northern  Boundary 
of  both,  till  the  7th  of  October,  1763;  when  Canada,  and  all  the  possessions  claimed 
by  France  in  that  quarter,  having,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  peace  of  February,  1763, 
been  definitively  ceded  by  her  to  Great  Britain,  (m)  His  Britannic  Majesty  issued  a 
proclamation  establishing  new  Governments,  and,  amongst  others,  that  of  Quebec. 

The  Boundaries  of  that  Government  ware,  by  the  said  proclamation,  fixed  as  fol- 
lows: "  Bounded  on  the  Labrador  Coast  by  the  River  (n)  St.  John;  and  from  thence, 
by  a  line  drawn  from  the  head  of  that  river  through  the  Lake  St.  John,  to  the  soutii 
end  of  the  Lake  Nipissing,  from  whence  the  said  line,  crossing  the  River  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  Lake  Champlain,  in  forty-five  degrees  of  north  latitude,  pastses  along  the 
Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  said  River  St.  Law- 
rence from  those  which  fall  into  the  Sea,  and  also  along  the  north  coast  of  the  Bay  des 
Chaleurs  and  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  to  Cape  Rosiers;  and  from  thence, 
crossing  the  mouth  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  by  the  west  end  of  the  Island  of  Anti- 
costi,  terminates  at  the  aforesaid  River  St.  John."  (o) 

The  highlands  therein  designatert,  being  assigned  as  the  southern  Boundary  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec,  became  the  northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia;  the  north-west 
corner  of  whirh,  instead  of  being,  as  heretofore,  on  the  bank  of  the  River  St.  Law- 
rence, was  thereby  placed  on  the  said  Highlands. 

The  Boundaries  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  were  enlarged  in  another  quarter  by  the 
act  of  Parliament  of  14th  Geo.  HI  Chap.  83.  (1774)  commonly  called  the  Quebec  Act 
But  those  adjacent  to  Nova  Scotia  and  Massachusetts  were,  by  that  act,  defined  in 
words  nearly  similar  to  those  used  in  the  proclamation  of  1763,  viz: 

"  That  all  the  Territories,  Islands,  and  Countries  in  North  America,  belonging 
to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  boimded,  on  the  south,  by  a  line  from  the  Bay  of 
Chaleurs  along  the  Highlands  which  ilivide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the 
River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  sea,  to  a  point  in  forty-five  degrees 
of  northern  latitude,  on  the  eastern  baiik  of  the  river  Connecticut,  keeping  the  same 
latitude  directly  west  through  the  lake  Champlain,  until,  in  the  same  latitude,  it  meets 

the  River    St.    Lawrence,   from  thence,   &c be,  and  they  are 

hereby,  during  his  Majesty's  pleasure,  annexed  to,  and  made  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec,  as  created  and  established  by  the  said  Royal  Proclamation,  of  (he 
7th  of  October,  1763." 

'•Provided  always,  that  nothing  herein  contained,  relative  to  the  Boundr.ry  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec,  shall,  in  any  wise,  affect  the  Boundaries  of  any  other  Colo- 
ny." ip) 

According  to  the  received  doctrine,  and  which  is  sustained  by  the  Law  Oflicers  of 
the  Crown,  in  their  opinion  of  August  Ulh,  1731,  the  King  could  not,  without  pro- 


(A)  Nf  w  Knt^laml  is  tlie  well  known  ancient  generic  name  of  the  British  Provinccn  lying  ea»t  of  New 
York,  and  west  of  Nova  Scotia:  The  old  Province  of  Maine,  as  well  as  the  tract  uf  land  between  it  and 
Nova  Scotia,  are,  by  the  Charter  of  Massachns/tts'  Bay,  declared  to  be  in  New  Kngland. 

(/j  Jeflery's  Map  of  Nova  Scotia,  publisheil  also  in  1755,  agrees,  in  that  re»[)i-ct,  with  that  of  Mitchell, 
though  they  appear  to  ditfer  as  to  the  Bt  iindary  between  New  England  and  Nova  Scotia.  See  Topo- 
graphical Evidence,  Printed  Maps,  No.  4( . 

(,rr.)  Written  Evidence,  No.  7.  <-~  ^ 

(n^  Not  the  River  of  the  s.ime  name  which  falls  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  hut  the  imaller  atream  already 
alluded  t.>,  which,  from  the  north,  falls  into  the  mouth  of  the  Hiver  St.  Lawrence, 
(o)  Written  Evi  I.  nee.  No.  17. 
(j))  Written  Evidence,  No.  18. 


21 

teanof  Lnw,  and  by  his  mere  proclamation  of  October  7th,  1763,  curtail  the  chartered 
Doutularics  of  the  Province  of  Maisachusetts'  Bay.  Uiit,  without  discussing  that  point, 
it  will,  for  the  present,  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  proviso  in  the  Quebec  Act  was 
not  opplicable  to  Nova  Scotia,  which  was  a  Royal  Province,  and  the  Boundaries  of 
which  might,  so  far  as  it  was  alune  aiFectcd,  be  altered  at  the  King's  pleasure,  but  thut, 
as  applied  to  that  part  of  Massachusetts'  Uay  which  lay  east  of  Kennebec  River, 
its  eflbct  was  to  leave  or  reinstate  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  as  the  northern  Boundary 
of  that  Province. 

The  Quebec  Act  and  the  Proclamation  of  17G3,  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion now  at  issue  between  the  two  Governments.  But  before  comparing  those  two  in- 
struments, one  with  the  other,  and  both  with  the  treaty  of  1783,  it  will  be  more  con- 
venient to  conclude  what  remains  to  be  observed  in  relation  to  the  eastern  Boundary 
of  Massachusetts. 

Notwithstanding  the  confirmation,  subsequent  to  the  treaty  of  Breda,  of  the  grant 
to  the  Duke  of  York;  notwithstanding  the  opinion  expressed  in  the  letter  from  the 
Board  of  Trade  to  the  Governor  ol  Massachusetts,  of  30th  October,  1700,  of  the  ex- 
tent of  the  cession  made  by  the  treaty  of  Ryswick;  and  notwithstanding  the  opinion 
of  the  Law  Officers  of  the  Crown,  of  August  11th,  1731;  the  attempt  to  dispute  the 
right  of  Massachusetts,  at  least  to  the  country  lying  east  of  Penobscot,  was  again  re- 
newed immediately  after  the  treaty  of  peace  bstwecn  Great  Britain  and  France,  of 
1763. 

The  Province  of  Masaachusetts  having  made  a  grant  to  Governor  Bernard,  of  an 
Island  lying  east  of  the  river  Penobscot,  and  which  required  the  cunti'.  mation  of  the 
Crown,  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  a  letter  of  March  11th,  1763,  to  the  Governor, 
say: 

•'  It  may  be  proper  to  observe  to  you,  that  the  doubt  conceived  upon  the  claim  of 
the  Province  of  Massachusetts,  ii>  not  founded  upon  the  allegation  that  the  lands  to  the 
east  of  Penobscot,  were  not  in  possession  of  the  Crown  at  the  time  of  granting  the 
Charter,  but  upon  the  operation  which  tke  treaties  of  Ryswick  and  Breda,  (by  which 
treaties,  this  tract  of  country  was  ceded  to  France,)  should  be  admitted  to  have  had 
upon  the  Charter  itself. 

•<  We  cannot  take  upon  us,  at  present,  to  say  how  far  all  future  consideration  of  this 
question  is  precluded  by  the  order  of  Council,  grounded  upon  the  opinion  of  the  At- 
torney and  Solicitor  General  in  1731;  this  is  a  delicate  point,  which  should  be  reserv- 
ed till  the  deed  shall  come  regularly  before  us;  anil,  in  the  mean  time,  we  cannot  think 
it  expedient  to  advise  any  conditional  grant  whatever  of  this  Island."  (q) 

On  the  same  ground,  saving  clauses  were  annexed  to  the  description  of  the  Bounda- 
ries of  the  Province  of  Nuva  Scotia,  inserted  in  the  Commission  of  Montague  Wilmot 
as  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  bears  date  (he  21st  of  November,  1763,  in  the 
following  words,  viz:  our  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  "and  which  we  have  thought  pro- 
per to  restrain  and  comprise  within  the  following  limits,  viz:" 

and  to  the  westward,  "although  our  said  Province  has  anciently  extended,  and  doth 
of  right  extend,  as  far  as  the  River  Pentagoet  or  Penobscot,"  it  shall  be  bound- 
ed, &c.  (r) 

The  object  of  that  attempt  is  explained  in  a  letter  from  Jasper  Mauduit,  agent  in 
Engtand  for  Massachusetts'  Bay,  to  the  General  Court  of  that  Province,  dated  9th 
June,  1764.     In  that  letter  tlic  agent  states  from  authority,  confirmed  by  a  subsequent 


(9)     WriUen  Evidence,  No.  19. 
(r)  Thr  wordtliere  qiiotrtl,  arr,  liowevcr,  omitted  in  t)l  the  nubicquent  CommiBsion*,  including  that 
of  John  P»iT,  (dated  29th  July,  1782,)  who  was  (iovemorat  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783.  The  Boun- 
dariea  preicribed  are  the  aame  in  all  tlie  Cummiuioiu.    See  Written  Evidence,  No.  1.^. 
G 


22 

interview  with  Lord  IFillBbornugh,  that  IT  the  Province  will  pass  an  net  ompcwcrinfi; 
their  agent  to  cedo  to  the  Crown  all  pretence  of  right  or  title,  they  may  claim  nndor 
.leir  Charter,  to  tha  lands  on  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  destined  by  the  Uoyal  Procla- 
mation to  form  part  of  the  Government  of  Quebec,  the  Crown  will  then  waive  all 
further  dispute  concerning  the  land  a»  fur  as  St.  Croix,  and  from  the  Sea  Coast  of  tho 
Bay  of  Fundy,  to  the  Dounds  of  the  Province  of  Quebec:  reserving  only  to  itself  tho 
right  of  approbation,  as  before."  (*) 

Mr.  Mauduit  urges  an  acquiescence  with  that  proposal,  principally  on  the  ground 
that  the  narrow  tract  of  land  which  lay  beyond  tho  sources  of  all  the  Uivcrs  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  was  watered  by  those  which  run  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  could 
not  ho  an  object  of  any  great  consequence  to  Massachusetts;  though  it  was  abso- 
hitely  necessary  to  the  Crown,  to  preserve  the  continuity  of  the  Government  of 
Quebec. 

It  is  not  at  all  necessary,  or  intended  to  discuss,  at  this  time,  the  respective  rights 
or  pretensions  of  the  parties  on  a  subject  which  has  been  definitively  settled.  Uut  it 
must  be  observed,  that  as,  according  to  the  Charter  ol  Massachusetts'  Hay,  her  terri- 
tory was  acknowledged  toextend  from  tho  RiverSagadahock  (or Kennebec)  to  the  River 
and  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  only,  northward  and  eastward,  the  narrow  tract  of 
land,  watered  by  iheri  vers  runninginto  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  embraced  by  the  Charter, 
and  which  was  necessary  to  the  Crown,  could  not  lie  westward,  but  lay  due  north  of 
the  territory  between  Kennebec  and  St.  Croix.  That  narrow  tract,  which  extends 
along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  River  Quelle  to  the  River  Metis,  or 
thereabout,  was  not  wanted  by  the  Crown,  in  order  to  establish  a  communiratiun  be- 
tween Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  but  to  preserve  that  of  Quebec  with  the  District  of 
Gaspe,  and  thereby  the  continuity  of  the  Government  of  Quebec.  And  as  this  object 
was  to  be  eflected  by  obtaining  the  assent  of  Massachusetts  to  the  Boundary  prescrib- 
ed by  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  it  necessarily  follows,  that  the  Highlands  contempla- 
ted by  the  Proclamation  as  forming  tho  southern  Boundary  of  the  new  province  of 
Quebec,  lay,  not  only  west  of  the  Sagadahock,  but  north  of  the  territory  lying  between 
that  riyer  and  the  St.  Croix. 

Although  the  public  attention  was,  at  that  time,  diverted  from  that  subject  by  the 
events  of  much  greater  importance,  which  terminated  in  a  dissolution  of  the  connec- 
tion between  the  two  countries,  tlie  final  adjustment  was  precisely  that  which  had 
been  suggested  in  Mr.  Mauduit's  communication.  By  the  treaty  of  1783,  the  British 
Government  abandoned  its  pretensions  to  any  territory  lying  west  of  the  River  St. 
Croix,  and  the  United  States  ceded  that  tract  of  land,  included  within  the  Chartered 
Boundaries  of  Massachusetts  which  is  watered  by  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  River  St. 
Lawrence. 


§3 

TAe  Ancient  Boundaries  confirmed  by  the  Treaty. 


The  line  agreed  on  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  so  farasit  is  the  common  Boundary  be- 
t\veen  Nova  Scotia  and  Massachusetts,  is  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  intuiUions  of  thc- 
Contracting  Parties.  It  has  already  been  shewn  that  the  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  was  to  establish  the  chartered  Boundaries  of  Massachusetts,  and  that 
their  Ministers  had  ultir.iatcly  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  the  river  SL  Croix  was  that 

— ^— ^"^—^^      ■     I  ■  -    ■     ^^^B— ^^M^—    ■  ■  ,m  -  I       ■■.!       ■■!       ■     ■■■-■■I    11     iWM  -I  *■■!■- 

(<)  Written  Evidence,  No.  iO. 


99 

nuundary.  On  the  part  of  Great  Hritain,  the  iitlcntloii  i*  still  more  completely  cstaii- 
lishcd,  since  the  ilescription  of  the  treaty  lioundary  is  there  evidently  Imrrowed,  al- 
inoAt  verbatim,  from  that  whirh,  lor  the  twenty  prenc  'ing  years,  had  liccn  assigned 
by  the  Britiiih  (lovernment  to  Nora  Scotia.  The  limits  thus  prescribed  for  that  prp- 
vince,  are  as  follows,  viz: 

'  ■  Ituunded  on  the  westward  i)y  a  line  drawn  from  Cupu  Sable  across  the  entrance 
of  Ihe  Day  of  Fundy,  to  the  month  of  the  Itivcr  St,  Croix,  by  the  said  river  to  its 
source,  and  by  u  line  drawn  due  north  from  thence  to  the  southern  lioundary  of  our 
Colony  of  Quebec,  to  Ihe  northward  by  the  said  Boundary,  us  f.ir  as  the  western  ex- 
tremity of  the  Bay  dcs  Chiileurs,  to  the  eastward  by  the  said  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  to  the  Cape  or  Promontory  called  Capo  Breton,  in  the  island  of  that  name, 

including,  &.C and  to  the  southward  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 

from  the  said  Ca|>e  to  Cape  Sable  aforesaid,  including,''  &c.  {t) 

The  Uivcr  St.  Croix,  from  its  mouth  to  its  source,  is  declared  by  the  treaty  to  be 
the  eastern  Boundary  of  the  United  Slates;  and  it  had,  for  twenty  years,  been  tho 
legal  western  Boundary  of  the  Bi  itish  Province  of  Nova  Scotia, 

From  the  sourceof  that  river,  the  eastern  Boundary  of  the  Lnited  States  is  declared, 
by  the  treaty,  to  be  a  due  north  line  to  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  those  which  fall  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence. 

The  western  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  had,  since  November,  17(i3,  been  a  line 
drawn  due  north  from  that  source,  to  the  Southern  Boundary  of  the  Colony,  (Govern- 
mentor  Province,)  of  Quebec.  And  the  southern  Boundary  of  this  Province,  had, 
since  October,  1763,  been,  by  the  King's  proclamation,  declared,  and,  at  the  date  of 
the  treaty  of  1783,  (u)  continued  to  be  "  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that 
empty  themselves  into  the  suid  river  St,  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the 
Sea." 

The  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  is  necessarily  formed  by  the  intersec- 
tion of  the  western  and  northern  Boundaries  of  that  province,  had,  therefore,  been  de- 
clared by  His  Britannic  Msjesty,  as  early  as  the  year  1703,  and  continued,  at  the  dato 
of  the  treaty  of  1783,  to  be  formed  by  the  intersection  of  a  line  drawn  due  north  from 
thtsourceof  the  river  St  Croix,  with  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  emp- 
ty Ihemsolves  into  the  said  Uiver  Si.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the 
Sea. 

It  could  have  been  only  in  reference  to  that  angle,  tbusprccbely  described,  that  the 
north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  was  at  all  mentioned  in  '.he  treaty  of  1783.  Unless 
this  had  been  the  object,  the  description  would  have  been  us  com])lctc  without  as  with 
the  mention  of  that  angle.  Whether  the  place  of  beginning  was,or  was  not  the  nurlh- 
wcst  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  was,  nnless  for  the  sake  of  reference  to  a  point  previously 
designated,  wholly  foreign  to  the  object  of  the  treaty. 

The  western  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia  being,  ut  the  same  time,  the  eastern  Bounda- 
ry of  the  United  States,  and  one  which  had  been  a  subject  of  contest,  came  within  the 
scope  of  the  treaty.  It  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  define  it  with  precision;  and, 
adopting  the  Boundary  already  assigned  by  the  King  to  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia, 


(/)  John  Parr's  coinmlmion,  ilatcd  29tli  July,  17KJ,  which  compare  v.ith  Montague  Wilmol's  of  21»t 
November,  176J,  and  the  intervening  Commissiuna.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  John  Parr's  Commission 
bears  date  only  four  month*  prior  to  the  preliminary  articles  of  November  3Uth,  178:3,  and  of  course  wu 
granted  pending  the  nt^|;otiations  for  peace.     Written  Kvidencc,  Nu.  13. 

(u)  See  the  cummisiions  of  the  several  Governors  of  Quebec,  James  Murray,  in  1763;  Guy  Csrleton, 
in  17(38,  and  December,  1774|  and  Frederick  liahlimand,  in  1778.  In  the  two  first,  the  descriptive 
words  of  the  BountUry  are  taken  from  tlia  I'rocliunatiun  of  1763|  and  in  the  two  last,  from  tbc  (Quebec 
Act.    See  Written  Evidence,  No.  31. 


24 

the  eastern  Boundary  of  the  United  States  was  declared  in  the  treaty  to  be  the  river 
St.  Croix,  and  in  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  its  source.  But  the  northern  Boun- 
dary of  Nova  Scotia,  the  other  line  which  formed  the  north-west  angle  of  that  Pro- 
vince, was  not  one  of  the  Boundaries  of  the  United  Stales.  It  was  the  Boundary 
between  Nova  Scotia  and  the  other  dominions  of  Great  Britain  in  that  quaitvr;  a 
Boundary  which  depended  on  the  acts  of  Great  Britain  alone,  which  it  could  not  be 
the  object  of  the  treaty  to  determine,  and  to  which  no  allusion  could  have  been  made, 
but  for  the  express  purpose  of  referring  to  a  line  previously  determined,  and  the  posi- 
tion of  which  was  sufficiently  understood,  although  the  interior  of  the  country  had  not 
been  explored. 

Had  not  that  been  the  object — had  not  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  been 
a  point  already  prescribed,  and,  as  such,  understood  by  both  parties,  no  reference 
would  have  been  made  to  it  in  the  treaty,  since  the  description  of  the  Boundary  would, 
without  it,  have  been  as  complete  and  intelligible  by  defining  it  as  follows,  viz: 
"  East  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  River  St  Croix,  from  its  mouth, 
in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  to  its  source;  and  from  its  source,  directly  north,  to  the  afore- 
said Highlands,  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those 
which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence;  and  thence,  along  the  said  Highlands  which 
divide,  &c.  to  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River." 

The  only  object,  therefore,  which  could  have  been  had  in  view,  in  mentioning  the 
north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  the  treaty,  was,  and  the  necessary  effect  of  having 
thus  inserted  those  words,  is,  to  identify  the  Highlands  described  and  contemplated 
by  the  proclamation  of  1763,  and  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774,  as  the  southern  Boundary 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  with  the  Highlands  contemplated  and  declared  by  the 
treaty  of  1783,  as  forming,  on  the  north,  the  said  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  and 
being  thence  the  Boundary  of  the  United  States,  to  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Con- 
necticut River. 

Further  proofs,  if  such  indeed  are  necessary,  may  be  found  in  other  parts  of  the 
proclamation  of  1763,  and  in  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774,  of  the  intentions  of  the  framers 
of  the  treaty  of  1783;  and  that  they  kept  constantly  those  two  instruments  in  view, 
whenever  they  were  applicable  or  did  not  relate  to  an  object  which  was  strenuously 
contested. 

This  last  exceptic  i  applies  only  to  that  part  of  the  Quebec  Act,  which  annexed 
to  the  Province  of  that  name,  the  whole  country  lying  between  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Mississippi,  as  far  south  as  the  River  Ohio.  This  had  been  and  was  considered,  on 
tiie  part  of  the  United  States,  as  an  encroachment  on  the  Charters  and  territorial 
rights  of  Virginia  and  other  Colonies,  (v)  It  had  been  provided,  in  the  act  itoelf, 
that  nothing  therein  contained  should,  in  any  wise,  affect  the  Boundaries  of  any  other 
Colony;  and  the  great  Lukes,  from  Lake  Erie  to  that  of  the  Woods,  were  ultimately 
agreed  on  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  as  the  Boundary  between  the  dominions  of  the  two 
Powers  in  that  quarter.  The  Missi!>sippi,  which,  by  the  treaty,  was  declared  to  be 
the  western  Boundary  of  the  United  States,  was  not  a  Boundary  with  Great  Britain, 
but  with  the  Dominions  of  Spain. 

In  every  other  respect  the  treaty  Boundary  accords  with  that  of  the  Quebec  Act, 
or  of  the  Proclamation.  From  Connecticut  River  to  Lake  Erie,  it  is  the  same  as 
the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  in  the  Quebec  Act,  substiluting 
the  middle  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence  (or  Iroquois,)  to  its  eastern  bank.  From  the 
River  Mississippi,  in  the  latitude  of  31  degrees  north  of  the  equator,  the  southern 
Boundary  of  the  United  States  is  declared,  by  the  treaty,  to  be  a  line  to  be  drawn 


(r)  Sff  Secret  Journals  orconprr§s,  Vol.  3   Reportof  a  Committee,  mule  on  the  16lh  Augutt,  178?, 
page  161,  kod  following.    Written  Kvidence,  No.  8. 


25 


thcnco  due  east,  to  the  middle  of  the  River  Apalachicoia  or  Catahouche  ;  thence 
along  the  middle  thereof,  to  its  junction  with  the  Flint  River  ;  thence  straight  to  tho 
head  of  8t.  Mary's  River,  and  thence  down  along  tho  middle  of  St.  Mary's  River,  to 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Tha*  Boundary  is  precisely  the  same  with  that  which,  by  the 
Proclamation  of  1763,  had  been  assigned  as  the  Northern  Boundary  of  Florida,  and 
is  described  therein  as  follows,  viz. 

"  Tho  Government  of  West  Florida,  bounded 

to  the  northward  by  a  line  drawn  east  from  that  part  of  the  River  Mississippi  which, 
lies  in  31  degrees  north  latitude,  to  the  River  Apalachicoia,  or  Catahouchee." 

"The  Government  of  East  Florida,  bounded  to  the  westward  by  the     .... 

Apalachicoia  River  ;  to  the  northward,  by  a  line  drawn  from  that  part 

of  the  said  river  where  the  Catahouchee  and  Flint  Rivers  meet,  to  the  source  of 
St.  Mary's  River,  and  by  tho  course  of  the  said  river,  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean."  (k») 

The  variations  between  the  three  instruments,  so  far  as  they  may  affect  the 
part  of  the  Boundary  now  under  consideration,  remain  to  be  examined. 

The  description  of  the  Boundary  line  formed  by  the  Highlands,  and  thence  to  the 
river  Iroquois  or  St.  Lawrence,  is  respectively  expressed  in  the  following  words,  yiz  : 


Prociamatinn  of  1703. 

The  line  crossing  the 
Rircr  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Lake  Chnmplain,  in  45  de- 
grees of  north  latitude,  pas- 
ses along  the  Highland.s 
which  divide  the  rivers  that 
empty  themsolvos  into  the 
said  River  St.  Lawrence, 
from  those  which  fall  into 
the  Sea  ;  and,  also,  along 
the  north  coast  of  tho  Bay 
des  Chalcurs. 


Quebec  ^icl  of  m4. 

A  line  from  the  Bay  of 
Chaleurs,  along  the  High- 
lands which  divide  fherivers 
that  empty  themselves  into 
the  River  St.  Lawrence 
from  those  which  fall  into 
the  Sea,  to  a  point  in  45  de- 
grees of  north  latitude,  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the 
River  Connecticut,  keeping 
tho  same  latitude  directly 
west  through  the  Lake 
Champlain,  until,  in  the 
same  latitude,  it  meets  the 
River  St  Lawrence,  &c. 


Treat!/  of  1783. 

From  (he  north-west  angle 
of  Nova  Scotia,  viz  :  That 
angle  which  is  formed  by 
a  line  drawn  due  north  from 
the  source  of  tho  St.  Croix 
river  to  the  Highlands, 
along  the  said  Highlands 
which  divide  those  rivers 
that  empty  themselves  into 
the  river  St  Lawrence  from 
those  which  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the 
north-westernmost  head  of 
Connecticut  River  ;  thence 
down  along  the  middle  of 
that  River  to  the  45  degree 
of  north  latitude  ;  from 
thence,  by  a  line  due  west, 
on  said  latitude,  until  it 
strikes  the  river  Iroquois 
or  Cataraquy,  &c. 

The  portion  of  the  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  along  the  Bay  des 
Chaleurs,  and  thence  as  far  west  as  Nova  Scotia  extended,  is  no  part  of  the  Boun- 
dary of  the  United  States.  It  is  referred  to  in  tho  treaty,  only  as  forming  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  not  otherwise  described  than  by  the  general  expres- 
sion of  "  Highlands  dividing  the  rivers,"  &c.  The  description  af  the  Boundary  of 
the  United  States  could  only  begin,  and  commences  accordingly,  at  the  north-west 
angle  of  Nova  Scot'a. 

The  rivers  intended  to  be  divided,  or  contra-distinguished,  from  those  emptying 
themselves  into  the  River  St  Lawrence,  are  defined,  in  the  Proclamation  of  1703, 
and  in  the  Quebec  Act,  as  falling  into  the  Sea  ;  and,  in  the  treaty,  as  falling  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean. 

Tho  word  "  Sea"  is  more  comprehensive  than  the  words  "  Atlantic  Ocean,"  not 
as  including  Bays  or  Gulfs,  which  arc  parts  of  the  said  Ocean,  but  because  it  also 


(U')  Hence  t)u'  rercrcnce  to  Eait  Klurida  in  the  lilt  sentence  of  the  treaty,  tliuugh  the  name  of  that. 
I'roviiicc  had  not  been  prevlouily  mcntiooed. 
7 


36 

embraces  the  Pacific,  Indian  Oceans,  and  other  great  subdivisions  which  are  no  part 
of  the  Atlantic.  And  as  none  of  those  great  subdivisions  of  the  Sea,  save  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  has  any  connexion  with  the  subject  matter  of  the  Proclamation,  of  the 
Quebec  Act,  or  of  the  Treaty  ;  as  no  other  but  the  Atlantic  lies  adjacent  to  the 
Countries  designated  in  those  three  instruments,  the  words  "  Sea"  and  "  Atlantic 
Ocean"  arc  used  there  in  the  same  s.nse. 

Indeed,  since  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  Highlands  contemplated  and  de- 
scribed by  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  and  by  the  Quebec  Act,  viz  :  the  Highlands 
which  divide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from 
those  which  fall  into  the  Sea,  are  the  identical  Highlands  contemplated  and 
described  in  the  treaty  of  1783,  viz  :  the  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that 
empty  themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  it  necessarily  follows  that  the  words  "Atlantic  Ocean"  in  the 
treaty,  have  precisely  the  same  meaning  with  the  word  <>  Sea"  in  the  Proclamation 
and  in  the  Quebec  Act. 

And  whit  will  altogether  remove  any  possible  doubt,  in  that  respect,  is  that  the 
two  expressions  are  used  as  synonymous  in  the  Proclamation  itself,  and  that,  too, 
with  respect  to  rivers  falling  into  the  Sea  or  Atlantic  Ocean. 

One  of  the  provisions  of  the  Proclamation  declares  it  to  be  the  Royal  will,  that 
'<  No  Governor,  &c.  of  our  other  Colonies  or  Plantations  in  America,  &c.  do  pre- 
sume, &c.  to  grant  warrants  of  survey,  or  pass  patents  for  any  lands  beyond  tha 
heads  or  sources  of  any  of  the  rivers  which  fall  into  the  Jlilantic  Ocean  from  the  west 
or  north-west,"  &c.  And  the  Proclamation  then  proceeds  to  declare  that  the  King 
does  reserve  under  his  sovereignty  and  dominion,  for  the  use  of  the  Indians,  "  all  the 
lands  and  territories  lying  to  the  westward  of  the  sources  of  the  rivers  which  fall 
into  the  Sea  from  the  west  and  north-west  as  aforesaid"  &c. 

There  is,  however,  between  the  three  instruments,  a  difference  which,  in  one 
particular,  alters  the  boundary  and  rc(viire3  to  bo  explained. 

According  to  the  Proclamation,  ilif  line,  after  crossing  Lake  Champlain,  in  45 
degrees  of  north  latitude,  passes  along  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers,  &c. 
The  line,  therefore,  in  order  to  divide  from  Lake  Champlain,  eastward,  all  the  rivers 
intended  to  be  divided,  would  have  proceeded  due  east,  to  the  first  source  of  any  of 
the  tributary  streams  of  Connecticut  River,  and  would  then  have  passed  along  the 
Highlands,  so  as  to  leave  all  the  branches  of  that  river  on  the  right  hand,  and  thus 
divide  them  from  the  rivers  falling  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence. 

The  River  Connecticut  having,  by  an  order  in  council  of  the  year  1764,  {x) 
been  declared  to  be  the  Boundary  between  the  Provinces  of  New  York  and  New 
Hampshire,  as  far  north  as  the  \5\\\  degree  of  north  latitude,  that  parallel,  from  the 
Connecticut  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  was  agreed  on  as  the  Uoundary  Line  between  the 
Provinces  of  New  York  and  Quebec.  That  agreement  having  been  confirmed  by  an 
Order  in  Council  of  lath  August,  1768,  (y)  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province 
of  Quebec  was,  by  the  Act  of  1774,  declared  to  be,  from  east  to  west,  along  the 
Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers,  &.c.  to  a  point  in  45  degrees  of  north  latitude,  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  River  Connecticut,  and  thence,  along  that  parallel,  to  the 
River  St  Lawrence. 

There  was  a  defect  in  that  description.  Highlands  dividing  rivers  flowing  in 
opposite  directions,  could  not  strike  one  of  those  rivers,  tiie  Connecticut,  at  a  point 
below  its  sources.  The  line,  if  definetl  only  as  dividing  such  rivers,  must  stop  at 
their  sources.     There  was,  therefore,  a  chasm  between  those  sources;  between  the 


(*)  Written  Evidence,  No.  '22. 
(y)  Written  Evidcnco,  No,  2fi. 


27 

Highlands  and  the  point  in  45  degrees  of  north  latitude,  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
Connecticut  River,  described  in  the  Quebec  Act. 

This  defect  is  provided  for  in  the  treaty,  by  declaring  that  the''line  along  the 
dividing  Highlands  shall  extend  only  to  the  north-westernmost  head  (or  source)  of  the 
River  Connecticut,  and  that  the  Boundary  shall  thence  be  down  along  the  middle  of 
that  river,  to  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude. 

It  may  be  here  observed  that  this  alteration  aflfords  another  proof,  that  the  essen- 
tial part  of  the  description  of  the  Boundary  consists  in  that  the  line  shall  divide  the 
rivers  so  as  to  pass  between  their  sources,  and  without  crossing  in  any  instance  any 
river  or  branch  thereof.  The  country,  between  the  sources  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
and  the  place  where  that  river  crosses  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  might  be 
generally  as  mountainous,  and  as  elevated  as  the  dividing  Highlands  meant  by  the 
treaty,  but  it  was  no  part  of  those  Highlands,  because  it  did  not  divide  the  rivers 
emptying  themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  any  other  river.  From 
the  point  where  the  line  ceased  to  be  on  the  Highlands  in  which  the  rivers  falling 
into  the  St.  Lawrence  take  their  sources,  it  ceased  to  be  on  the  Highlnuds  described 
by  the  treaty  ;  and  it  became  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent  a  chasm  in  the  peram- 
bulation, to  define,  by  a  distinct  provision,  how  the  line  was  to  proceed  from  that 
point,  from  the  Highlands  of  the  treaty  to  the  point  in  the  45th  degree  of  latitude, 
on  the  bank  of  the  River  Connecticut. 

It  has  been  clearly  shewn,  from  the  progress  of  the  negotiations,  from  the 
various  emphatic  expressions  and  references  to  be  found  in  the  treaty,  and  from  the 
coincidence  of  the  Boundaries  therein  designated  with  those  of  the  former  and 
remaining  British  Provinces,  that  the  avowed  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of 
1783  was,  at  least  in  relation  to  that  now  under  consideration,  to  confirm  ancient  and 
known,  and  not  to  establish  new  Boundaries  ;  and  that,  with  respect  both  to  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  to  the  Highlands  dividing  certain  rivers,  they  had 
specially  in  view  the  Charter  of  Massachusetts,  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  and  the 
Quebec  Act  of  1774,  (by  which  the  southern  Boundaries  of  the  Province  of  Quebec 
had  been  defined,)  and  the  legal  limits  assigned  to  Nova  Scotia  by  the  Commissions 
of  the  Governors  of  that  Province.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  the  identity,  cither  of 
the  north-west  angle,  and  of  the  western  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  as  established  by 
those  Commissions,  with  the  same  angle  as  mentioned  in,  and  with  the  eastern 
Boundary  of  the  United  States  as  designated  by,  the  treaty  ;  or  of  the  Highlands 
prescribed  by  the  Proclamation  of  17G3,  and  by  the  Quebec  Act,  as  the  southern 
Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  with  the  Highlands,  which,  in  conformity 
with  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  with  the  commsssions  aforesaid,  form  the  northern 
Boundary  both  of  the  United  States,  in  that  quarter,  and  of  Nova  Scotia. 

§4. 

Coincidence  q/'  the  %9merican  Line  with  the  %incienl  established  Boundaries. 


This  real  intention  of  the  parties  to  the  treaty  of  1783  being  thus  m.ndc  appa- 
rent, and  manifestly  flowing  from  the  treaty  itself,  is  alone  suflicicat  to  dissipate 
those  arguments  by  which  it  has  been,  and  may  still  he,  attempted  to  substitute, 
to  the  clear  and  explicit  expressions  of  the  treaty,  certain  presumed  intentions, 
gratuitously  ascril)cd  to  the  negotiators,  and  for  which  no  pretence  can  be  found  in 
any  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty.  This  is  not  one  of  the  least  reasons  why  it  has 
been  deemed  necessary  to  establish  beyond  doubt,  what  were  their  true  intentions. 

But  if  it  he  permitted  to  seek  for  those  intentions  elsewhere  than  in  the  lan- 
I'.agu  of  the  treaty,  it  also  follows  that  they  must  be  t'ound,  not  in  the    relative: 


28 

situation  of  the  Contracting  Powers,  in  the  year  1783,  when  the  ancient  line  was 
confirmed,  but  in  the  object  whicli  the  British  Government  must  have  had  in  view, 
in  the  year  1763,  when  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  such  as  it 
was  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  such  as  it  still  continues  to  be  to  this  day,  was 
first  established. 

The  sole  object  of  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  is,  in  that  respect,  what  it  professes 
to  be,  viz :  to  provide  generally  for  the  government  of  the  valuable  acquisitions 
secured  to  Great  Britain  by  the  late  treaty  with  France,  and  specially  for  that  of 
Canada,  by  assigning  proper  Boundaries  to  the  Province  of  Quebec,  which  is  erected 
with  that  view.  Nothing  more  was  necessary  for  that  purpose  than  to  include 
within  those  limits,  the  French  inhabitants  known  to  have  been,  till  the  conquest  of 
Canada,  under  its  Government.  It  was  sufficient,  in  order  to  effect  that  object,  to 
include  within  the  new  Province  the  whole  Country  below  Quebec,  and  nothing  more 
than  the  country  which  is  watered  by  the  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence, 
or  what  Geographers  call  the  basin  of  that  river.  The  Ridge,  or  by  whatever  other 
name  called,  in  which  those  tributary  streams  have  their  sources,  was  not  only  a 
natural,  but  the  most  natural  Boundary  which  presented  itself.  By  deviating  from 
its  eastern  extremity,  so  as  to  make  the  Bay  des  Chaleurs  the  Boundary  in  that 
quarter,  and  thereby  embrace  the  Gaspe  settlements,  all  the  French  inhabitants  were 
included.  This  was  the  only  purpose  that  could  then  have  been  intended.  The 
communication  between  Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia,  by  the  means  of  the  River  St. 
John,  was  wholly  foreign  to  the  determination  of  the  Boundaries  of  the  new  Govern- 
ment, since,  in  the  year  1763,  when  Massachusetts  was  part  of  the  British  Empire, 
it  was  quite  immaterial  to  Great  BriUin  through  which  of  her  Provinces  such  com- 
munication should  pass. 

Viewing  thus  the  dividing  ridge,  in  reference  to  the  Boundaries  of  Canada,  and 
to  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  another  reason  why  it  was  designated  by  the  name  of 
Highlands  suggests  itself,  which  is  independent  of  the  propriety  of  that  appellation, 
cither  as  a  general  term  applicable  to  any  ground  which  divides  rivers,  or  as  a  techni- 
cal expression  used  in  Canada  and  New  England  for  that  special  purpose,  and  as 
synonymous  with  "  height  of  land"  and  "  hauteur  de  terre."  (z) 

The  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  John  to  the  sources  of  those  of 
its  tributary  streams  which  flow  from  the  said  ridge,  is  more  than  300  miles  in  a 
straight  line.  From  a  short  distance  below  Quebec  to  its  eastern  extremity,  the  ridge 
is  rarely  more  than  20,  and,  in  some  places,  not  above  15  miles  distiince  from  the 
River  St.  Lawrence.  la  ascending  the  River  St  John  from  its  mouth  to  its  sources,  the 
country  becoming  gradually  more  and  more  elevated,  the  relative  and  apparent  elevation 
of  the  ridge  lessens  in  proportion  as  it  is  approached.  When  seen  from  some  places 
on  the  upper  branches  of  the  St.  John,  it  may,  perhaps,  occasionally  appear  not  much 
higher  than  the  adjacent  country;  whilst,  on  account  of  its  rapid  descent  toward.s  the 
River  St.  Lawrence,  its  whole  elevation  and  mountainous  aspect  may  be  scon  I'roin 
vessels  sailing  on  that  river.  Attracting  their  notice,  it  is  highly  probable  that  ac- 
cording to  the  general  practice  of  navigators  in  similar  cases,  it  received  from  thcin 
the  name  of  Highlands,  which  they  so  uniformly  give,  without  rcft>rcnrc  to  absolute 
elevation,  to  the  land  first  seen  from  the  sea,  or  often  seen  alone,  when  sailing  along  a 
shore  which  ia  comparatively  low,  and  may  yet  reman  invisible,  (a) 


(7)  See  H'Kenzie,  Henry,  Douchette,  Pownall  and  printed  maps— passim, 
(a)  Mount  St.  Francis,  which  at  the  (iranil  Portage  divides  the  livers,  and  it  a  part  of  the  ridge,  is 
1037  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Sea,  according  to  Captain  I'atridge's  barometrical  ob8er»'ations.  Sup- 
posing this  t*  be  the  average  elevation  of  the  ridge,  as  far  eastward  a.  the  source  of  the  Hiver  Metis,  it 
inuat  be  a  coi...picuous  object  and  have  the  appearance  of  n  continuons  chain,  wbi-n  viewed  from  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  but  at  the  sources  of  the  Chaudiere  unduf  tlie  Metis  the  ridge  is  still  more  elevated 


2^ 

Rut  it  is  not  to  probabilities  and  conjectures  that  tiie  United  States  are  compelled 
to  resort  in  order  to  sustiiin  their  case.  The  identity  of  the  Highlands,  contemplat- 
ed by  anterior  authentic  acts,  emanating  from  tlie  British  Government,  with  the  High- 
lands described  by  the  treaty  of  17S3,  having  been  conclusively  established,  if  it  can 
be  shewn  that  the  Highlands  described  by  those  British  Acts,  must  necessarily  have 
been  intended,  and  were  universally  understood,  to  be  the  identical  Highlands  now 
contended  for  by  the  United  States  as  their  Boundary,  under  the  treaty  of  1733,  the 
claim  of  the  United  States  will  be  established  beyond  contradiction,  and  every  doubt 
in  relation  to  the  Highlands  intended,  be  removed. 

The  situation  and  direction  of  the  intended  Highlands  are  determined,  so  as  to 
admit  of  no  doubt,  by  the  mention  made  of  the  Bay  dcs  Chalcurs,  in  those  several 
acts  of  the  British  Government. 

According  to  the  I'roclamation  of  1763,  the  line  paases  along  the  Highlands  which 
divide  the  rivers,  &c.  and  also  along  the  north  coast  of  the  Bay  des  Chaleurs. 

By  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774,  the  Province  of  that  name  is  bounded  on  the  south, 
by  a  line  from  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs  along  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers,  &c. 
to  the  Connecticut  River. 

In  conformity  with  the  commissions  of  the  Governors  of  Nova  Scotia,  from  the 
year  1763  to  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  that  province  is  bounded  to  the  north- 
ward, by  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Colony  or  Province  of  Quebec,  as  far  as  the 
western  extremity  of  the  Bay  des  Chaleurs;  and  to  the  eastward,  by  the  said  Bay  and 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

A  straight  line  drawn  on  Mitchells'  map,  from  the  western  extremity  of  Bay  des 
Chalcurs  to  the  sources  of  t.he  Connecticut  River,  is  nearly  parallel  to  the  course  of 
the  River  St.  Lawrence;  aii>l,  ihoiigh  cutting  off  some  of  the  sources  of  the  Ristigou- 
che  and  of  the  St.  John,  almusi  coincides  with  the  dividing  Highlands.  A  mere  in- 
spection of  that  map  will  satisfy  every  impartial  observer  that  the  mention  of  the  Bay 
dcs  Chaleurs  determines  the  course  and  situation  of  the  Highlands;  that,  within  a  few 
miles  from  the  western  extremity  of  that  Bay,  the  Highlands,  in  which  the  Rivers 
emptying  themselves  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  have  their  sources,  are  reached;  and  that 
the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Piovince  of  Quebec,  was  clearly  intended  to  extend 
thence  along  those  Highlands  whirh  divide  the  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St. 
Lawrence,  from  the  sources  of  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  of 
the  St.  John,  of  the  Penobscot,  of  the  Kennebec,  and  of  the  Androscoggin,  to  the 
Connecticut  River. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  the  su|)i)i;sition  ia  admitted  that  the  southern  Boundary  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec  was  intended  to  pass  south  of  the  River  St.  John,  so  as  to  form, 
at  its  intersection  witli  the  line  drawn  due  north  I'rom  the  River  St.  Croix,  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Si'otia,  the  contemplated  Boundary  along  the  Highlands  must 
have  extended  from  that  anj^le  to  the  Bay  des  Ch.deurs.  On  that  supposition,  the 
IJuundary  line,  instead  of  dividing  any  rivers  from  other  rivers,  and  of  bcini;  along 
any  Highlands,  whatever,  must,  from  the  western  extremity  of  the  Bay  des  Chalcurs, 
Ikivc  crossed  all  the  rivers  that  empty  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawience  and  the  main 
St.  John  River,  to  some  point  south  o(  that  river,  on  the  line  drawn  due  north  from 
the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix:  .\nd  it  would  thence  iiave  exti:ndL'd  to  the  source 
of  the  River  Chaudiere,  which  falls  into  the  River  St.  LawriMice,  without  dividing 
lui)  other  rivers  tlian  the  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St.  John  from  sonic  other 
branches  of  the  same  river,  and  from  the  waters  of  the  Penobscot  and  of  the  Ken- 
nebec. 

The  distance  from  the  western  extremity  of  the  Bay  des  Chalcurs  to  the  nearest 
source  of  the  Chaudiere,  is,  by  Mitchell's  map,  about  'J.'iO  miles,  and  from  th:it  sourre 
of  the  River  Chaudiere,  to  the  River  Connecticut,  about  DO  miles.     To  say,  therefore. 

a 


30 

that  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Proyince  of  Quebec  was  intended,  according  to  the 
Acts  of  the  British  Government,  to  run  in  the  manner  and  direction  last  stated,  im- 
plies the  monstrous  supposition,  that  that  Government,  in  designating  the  said  south- 
ern Boundary,  adopted  a  definition  wholly  inapplicable  to  near  three-fourths  of  the 
Boundary  which  they  intended  to  prescribe,  (b) 

Such  a  supposition  was  too  repugnant  to  common  sense  to  be  adopted  at  a  time 
when  there  was  no  motive  to  deviate  from  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  Proclamation 
of  1763,  and  of  the  other  acts  of  the  British  Government.  It  was,  therefore,  the 
universal  understanding,  as  late,  at  least,  as  the  year  1783,  that  the  Southern  Boundary 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec  was  along,  and  no  further  south  than  the  Highlands  in 
which  the  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence  have  their  sources,  and  which 
divide  those  streams  from  the  upper  branches  of  either  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  river  St.  John,  or  any  of  the  other  rivers  that  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  Connecticut  River. 

The  maps  published  since  the  treaty  of  1783  may  bear  the  marks  of  partiality,  and 
have  been  modified  in  conformity  with  the  pretensions  of  either  party.  No  such  bias 
could  afiiect  those  that  were  pubiiihed  in  Great  Britain  between  the  years  1763  and 
1783.  There  was  no  motive  that  could  influence  Geographers  to  deviate  from  the 
true  and  obvious  meaning  of  the  acts  of  Great  Britain  which  had  established  the 
Boundaries  of  her  new  and  old  Provinces.  A  solitary  map,  even  though  belonging 
to  that  epoch,  contradicted,  perhaps,  by  others,  would  be  no  authority.  But  if  all  the 
maps  published  in  England,  during  that  period,  and  in  which  the  Boundaries  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec,  as  established  by  the  acts  of  Great  Britain,  are  delineated,  (c) 
do  agree  in  that  respect,  it  will  be  a  conclusive  proof  that  the  meaning  of  the  acts,  in 
reference  to  that  Boundary,  was  so  clear  and  obvious  that  they  were  universally  un- 
derstood in  the  same  manner. 

All  the  maps  of  that  period,  on  which  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  province  of 
Quebec  is  laid  down,  and  which,  after  a  diligent  search,  both  in  England  and  America, 
have  been  obtained,  accompany  this  Statement,  (d)  Some  maps  may  have  escaped 
notice,  but  not  a  single  one  has  been  omitted  that  has  come  within  the  knowledge  of 
the  American  Government. 

The  maps  thus  collected  are  the  following,  viz: 
No.  1.  T.  Kitchen's  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  &c.  engraved  for  Dods- 
ley's  Annual  Register  of  1763. 

2.  T.  Kitchen's  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  &c.  engraved  for  Captain 
John  Knox's  History  of  the  War  in  America,  and  annexed  to  his  Histori- 
cal Journal  of  the  Campaigns  in  North  America.  London,  1769. 

■i.  British  Empire  in  North  America,  &c.  annexed  to  Wynn's  History  of  the 
British  Empire,  &c.  London,  1770. 

t.  J.  Palairet's  North  America,  with  Improvements,  &c.  by  Delarochettc.  Lon- 
don, 17C5. 

.'■>.  J.  Ridge's  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  &c.  annexed  to  a  complete 
History  of  the  late  War,  &c.  Dublin,  1766. 


(6)  Let  it  alio  be  observed  th«f  Uie  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  must  have  necessarily  been  under- 
stood to  be  north  of  the  main  River  St.  Johnj  since  the  westein  extremity  of  the  Bay  dcs  Chaleurs, 
being  mure  noitli-west  than  any  point  soiilli  of  tliat  river  on  the  due  north  line  from  '.he  source  of  the 
River  St.  Croix,  would  have  been  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  had  the  southern  Uoundary  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec  extended  from  the  said  western  extremity  to  any  point  south  of  the  main  river  St. 
John. 

(c)  This  Uoundary  having  been  established  only  in  1763,  could  not  be  exhibited,  and  does  not  appear, 
in  Mitciiell's  Hap  which  was  published  in  1755. 

((/)  Topographical  Evidence,  Printed  Maps. 


31 

6.  North  and  South  America,  by  the  American  Traveller,  annexed  to  the  "Ame- 

rican Traveller,"  &c.  London,  1769. 

7.  North  America  and  West  Indies,  with  the  opposite  Coasts,  &c.  London,  1775. 

(Jeffery's  Atlas.) 

8.  North  America  improved  from  D'Anville,  with  divisons  by  P.  Bell,  engraved 

by  R.  W.  Scale.— London,  1771. 

9.  P.  Bell's  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  &c.  1772,  annexed  to  <■  His- 

tory of  British  Dominions  in  North  America,  &c.  in  fourteen  books."— 
London,  1773. 

10.  S.  Dunn's  British  Empire  in  North  America. — London,  1774. — (Jeffery's 

Atlas.) 

11.  D'Anvill's  North  America,  improved  with  English  Surveys,  &c. — Lon- 

don, 1775. — (Jeffery's  Atlas.) 

12.  E.   Bowen  and  J.  Gibson's  North  America,  &c. — London,  1775. — (Two 

sheets,  Jeffery's  Atlas.) 

13.  Sayer  and  Bennett's  Province  of  Quebec,  &c. — London,  1776. — (Jeffery's 

Atlas.) 

14.  Seat  of  War  in  the  Northern  Colonies,  &c. — London,  1776,  annexed  to  the 

American  Military  Pocket  Atlas. 

15.  North  America,  &c.  corrected  from  the  materials  of  Governor  Pownall, 

M.  P.— London,  1777.— (Jeffery's  Atlas.) 

16.  Continent  of  America,  &c.  corrected  from  the  materials  of  Governor  Pow- 

nall.— London,  1777. 

17.  W.  Faden's  British  Colonies  in  North  America,  1777. 

18.  North  America  from  the  latest  discoveries,  1778;  engraved  for  "Carver's 

Travels."— London,  1778  and  1781. 

47.     T  Jeffery's  Nova  Scotia,  &c. — London,  1775.  (e) 

The  identity  of  the  Highlands  which  form  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province 
of  Quebec,  with  those  which  are  claimed  by  the  United  States  as  their  Boundary,  will 
appear  evident  on  the  first  inspection  of  those  maps.  It  strengthens  the  proofs  derived 
from  them,  that  many  differ  from  each  other  in  several  irrelevant  particulars. 

The  River  Penobscot  is  laid  down,  in  some,  as  the  western  Boundary  of  Nova 
Scotia;  in  others,  where  the  river  called  St  Croix  is  made  the  Boundary,  the  name 
is  given  to  different  rivers,  to  those  now  known  as  the  Magaguadavic,  theScoodic,  and 
theCobscook.  The  course  of  the  line  drawn  from  the  source  of  the  St.  Croix  to  the 
Highlands,  is  not  the  same  in  all,  being  generally  due  north,  but,  in  some,  west  of 
north;  and,  in  one  instance,  a  crooked  in.stead  of  a  straight  line. 

That  lire,  in  most  of  the  map.-),  crosses  no  other  waters  but  those  of  the  river 
St  John,  and  its  tributary  streams;  (/)  while,  in  others,  it  also  crosses  some  upper 
branches  of  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  Boun- 
dary from  that  line  ea.stward,  in  some  of  the  maps,  rcache.^  the  Bay  des  Chaleurs,  by 
passing  north  of,  and  leaving  on  the  right,  the  river  Ristigouchc:  in  others,  it  extends 
along  thedivuiing  ridge,  to  the  source  of  that  river,  which  is  represented  as  a  short 
stream,  and  then  down  the  same  to  the  Bay. 

But,  in  every  instance,  the  course  of  the  line  from  the  source  of  the  River  St. 
Croix  is  northward;  in  every  instance,  that  line  crosses  the  River  St  John,  and  termin- 
ates at  the  Highlands  in  which  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence  have 


(r)  This  tniip  is  the  same  with  No.  46.  with  the  dlfierence  only  of  the  boundaries  of  the  several  Tro- 
viiices  which,  in  No.  47,  arc  laid  down,  according  to  Uie  Geographer's  conception,  in  conrormity  with 
the  I'roclamation  of  ir6J. 

(/)  This  is  also  the  case  in  Mitchell's  Map. 


3fl 

their  sources;  in  every  instance,  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  is  laid  down  on 
those  Highlands,  and  where  the  north  line  terminates;  in  every  instance,  the  High- 
lands, from  that  point  to  the  Connecticut  River,  divide  the  rivers  that  fail  into  the 
River  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  trihutary  streams  of  the  River  St.  John,  and  from  the 
oiher  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

This  universal  understanding  is  easily  accounted  fur.  The  descriplion  of  the 
southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  in  the  Acts  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, was  in  that  respect,  like  that  of  the  Dormdary  of  the  United  States  by  the 
treaty  of  1783,  expressed  in  terms  so  clear  as  to  tdmitof  no  douht,  and  to  be  susceptible 
of  but  one  construction.  What  effect  that  universal  understanding  had  on  the  framers 
of  the  treaty  of  1783,  will  now  be  considered. 

Mitchell's  map  is  acknowledged,  by  both  parties,  to  have  regulated  the  joint  and 
official  proceedings  of  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of  1783:  and  it  has  already  been  ob- 
served that  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  designated  for  the 
first  time  by  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  was  not,  and  could  not  be,  laid  down  on  that 
map,  which  was  published  in  the  year  1755. 

This  acknowledgment  is  founded  on  the  testimony  of  the  American  Negotiators, 
taken  at  the  time  when  the  question  "  what"  was  the  true  River  St.  Croix,  had,  by 
virtue  of  the  treaty  of  1794,  been  submitted  to  a  Joint  Commission.  The  deposition 
of  John  Adams  states,  that  "Mitchell's  man  was  the  only  map  or  plan  which  was  used 
by  the  Commissioners  at  their  public  conferences,  though  other  maps  were  occasionally 
consulted  by  the  American  Commissioners,  at  their  lodgings."  (g) 

In  a  letter  to  Lieutenant  Governor  Cunhing,  of  Massachusetts,  of  the  25th  of 
October,  1784,  when  Mr.  Adams's  recollections  on  the  subject  were  quite  fresh,  he 
writes:  "  fVe  had  before  us,  through  the  whole  negotiation,  a  variety  of  inaps; 
but  it  was  Mitchell's  map  upon  which  was  marked  out  the  whole  of  the  Boundary 
Lines  of  the  United  States;  and  the  River  St.  Croix,  which  we  fixed  on,  was  upon 
that  map  the  nearest  river  to  St.  John's;  so  that,  in  all  equity,  good  conscience,  and 
honor,  the  river  next  to  St.  John's  should  be  the  Boundary."  ij^) 

One  of  the  ma|)s  annexed  to  this  statement,  (No.  12,)  that  of  Emanuel  Bowen, 
published  in  1775,  is  specially  quoted  in  tlie  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Congress  of 
the  16th  August,  17S2,  (A)  and  was  therefore  in  possession  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment. 

The  fact  of  other  maps  having  been  consulted  by  the  American  Ministers,  is  sufli- 
cient  proof  of  their  knowledge  of  what  was  universally  understood  by  the  Highlands 
prescribed  as  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec.  And  it  may  be  (airly 
inferreil  from  the  words,  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Adams  of  October,  1784,  "  VVc  had  be- 
fore us,  through  the  whole  negotiation,  a  variety  of  maps,"  &c.  that  those  maps  were 
before  the  Joint  Negotiators.  Yet  it  may  be  insisted  that  it  is  not  in  proof  that  the 
British  Commissioners  were  acquainted  with  any  other  map  than  that  of  .Vlitciiell. 

On  the  supposition  thai  the  British  Government  selected,  for  the  purpose  of  treat- 
ing with  the  American  Commissioners  respecting  Boundaries,  men  who  had  never 
seen,  and,  on  that  occasion,  did  not  examine  any  of  tlie  numerous  maps  of  America 
published  during  the  twenty  next  preceding  yeaxs;  on  the  supposition  that  those  Ne- 
gotiators had  no  knowledge  of  such  familiar  collections  as  Jelfery's  .\nieriean  Alias,  or 


(,<)  ^Viittiii  livliltnce,  No.  23.  Tlioipgli  the  remiirk  may  be  superflnuH,  it  iD:iy  be  obaerveJ  that  tlie 
fact  uf  othiT  majj.s  having  been  consulted  m  mentioned  by  Mr.  Adams  for  no  parlicnlur  purpose,  uikI  only 
in  order  to  sl.;te  the  wl.ole  tuith.  Ibe  Klver  St  Croix  was,  at  lliat  lime,  the  only  object  of  c(.:itcnlion, 
wid  Mitchell's  map  was,  in  that  respect,  decisive  in  favor  of  the  pretension  of  the  Lniti d  States,  whilst 
several  of  the  subseijuent  maps  favored,  as  to  that  poiut,  the  Uritish  ilaiin. 

(A)  Secret  .lournals  of  Congress,  V  ji. ,!,  pajje  190. 


33 

tlie  American  Military  Pocket  Atlas;  on  the  supposition  that  having,  almost  through- 
out the  treaty,  adopted  the  boundaries  designated,  and  even  the  phraseology  used  in  the 
Proclamation  of  1763,  they  neglected  to  consult  any  of  the  maps  in  which  the  Boun- 
daries were  laid  down  in  conformity  with  that  Proclamation;  on  the  supposition  that 
the  same  unaccountable  carelessness  existed  in  the  British  Cabinet,  to  whom  the  c«se  is 
proved  to  have  been  specially  referred  more  than  once;  on  these  suppositions,  but  on 
these  alone,  may  it  be  pretended  that  the  British  Negotiators  were  ignorant  of  the  uni- 
versal understanding  respecting  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  and 
unaware  of  its  connection  with  the  Boundary  established  by  the  treaty  of  1783.  Even 
on  such  supposition,  it  has  already  been  shewn,  and  further  arguments  might  be  addu- 
ced to  the  same  effect,  that  Mitchell's  map  issudicient  to  establish  what  Highlands  were 
intended  by  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  and  by  the  treaty  of  1783. 

The  Provisional  Articles  of  Pi>ace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
had  been  signed  on  the  30th  of  November,  1782.  The  Boundaries  then  agreed  on 
are,  without  any  alteration,  the  same  as  those  of  the  definitive  treaty  concluded  on  the 
3d  day  of  September,  178T. 

During  the  interval  that  elapsed  between  the  signing  of  the  preliminaries  and  of 
the  definitive  treaty,  four  maps  of  the  United  States  were  published  in  London,  one  of 
which,  at  least,  (Bew's,)  appears  to  have  been  intended  as  illustrative  of  the  Debates 
in  Parliament  on  the  subject  of  the  Boundaries,  viz: 

No.  19.  Sayer  and  Bennet's  United  States  of  America  with  the  British  Posses- 
sions, &c.  London,  9th  February,  1783. 

20.  Bew's  North  America,  &c.  (or  Rebel  Colonics,  now  United  States,)  en- 
grave! for  the  Political  Magazine.     London,  9th  February,  1783. 

21.  J.  Wallis'  United  States  of  America,  &c.  London,  April,  1783. 

22.  J.  Gary's  United  States  of  America,  &c.  London,  July,  1783. 

These  maps  are  an  evidence  of  the  contemporaneous  understanding  of  the  Boun- 
daries of  the  United  States,  according  to  the  preliminaries.  In  all  of  them  those  Boun- 
daries are  laid  down  as  now  cl.nimed  by  the  United  States,  and  are  the  same  with  those 
delineated  in  the  preceding  maps,  as  the  Boundaries  of  the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and 
Nova  Scotia. 

Seven  other  maps  of  the  same  character,  published  during  the  same  and  the  ensu- 
ing year,  afford  additional  proof  of  lliat  understanding;  (/■)  and  evidence  is  not  want- 
ing thai  it  continued  to  prevail  in  England  for  many  subsequent  years.  (/) 

No  contra<iictory  evidence  has  been  adduced,  unless  some  lately  communicated  by 
the  British  Government  should  be  intended  to  show  that  the  Government  of  Quebec 
had  been  there  understood  to  extend  beyond  the  basin  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  It 
consists,  first,  of  some  private  sales  and  leases  of  two  seigneuries  or  fiefs,  formerly 
granted  by  the  French  Government  of  Canada,  one  of  which  is  situated  on  the  River 
St.  Lawrence,  and  the  other,  on  one  of  the  upper  branches  of  the  River  St.  John;  2dly, 
of  a  notice  in  the  Quebec  Gazette,  of  the  year  1765,  respecting  the  encroachments  of 
inhabitants  of  Canada  on  the  bunting  grounds  of  the  Indians  on  the  River  St.  John. 
The  total  irrelevancy  of  that  evidence  might  easily  be  shewn;  but  it  seems  more  pro- 
per to  reserve  the  reply,  till  after  the  object  of  the  evidence  shall  have  been  fully  ex- 
plained. It  is  sufficient  hen;  to  observe,  that  those  obscure  transactions,  certainly 
unknown  to  the  framcrs  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  could  have  had  no  effect  on  their  under- 
standing of  the  Boundaries  of  the  British  Provinces. 

It  is  believed  that  the  intentions  of  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  their  un- 
derstanding, as  well  of  the  former  limits  of  the  British  Provinces  as  of  those  agreed  on 

(A)  No«.  23  to  29.  (I)  Sec  Maps,  Nos  30  to  35. 

9 


04 

by  the  treaty,  have  now  been  made  manifestj  and  that  it  has  been  established  in  the 
moat  satisfactory  manner,  that  the  Boundary  claimed  by  the  United  States  is  not  less 
in  perfect  accordance  with  the  intention  and  spirit,  than  with  the  letter  of  the  treaty. 

Tht  British  Line  incoMisUnt  with,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  terms  of  the 

Treaty. 


It  was  not  the  object  of  Ihc  inquiry,  and  it  lias  not  been  attempted,  to  refute  va- 
rious objections  which  have  been  urged  on  the  part  of  Great  Dritain,  before  the  late 
commission  under  the  5th  article  of  the  Treaty  ot  Ghent.  It  is  presumed  that  those 
on  which  the  British  Government  mean  to  insist,  will  appear  in  their  first  statement; 
and  the  answer  will  find  its  proper  plnce  in  the  reply  of  the  United  States. 

The  acts  of  the  two  powers,  or  of  the  local  governments,  and  the  opinions  which 
may  have  been  expressed  by  any  of  their  officers,  in  relation  to  the  contested  Territo- 
ry, since  the  treaty  of  1783,  can,  at  best,  be  adduced  hut  by  way  of  illustration.  They 
can  throw  no  light  on  the  intentions  of  the  framers  of  the  treaty  of  1783;  they  cannot 
impair  the  rights  of  cither  party  that  are  derived  from  the  express  and  explicit  provi- 
sions of  the  treaty.  To  shew  what  were,  in  fact,  those  intentions,  and  their  perfect 
agreement  with  ihe  line  claimed  by  the  United  States,  and  to  demonstrate  that  their 
right  to  the  contested  territory  is  conclusively  established  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
arc  the  sole  objects  of  this  statement.  From  these  it  is  not  desirable  to  divert  the  at- 
tention, to  points  of  very  subordinate  importance,  which,  for  the  present  at  least,  will 
not  be  taken  into  consideration. 

It  remains,  therefore,  only  to  examine  the  Boundary  line  claimed  by  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  to  state  Ihe  objections  to  it  by  Ihe  United  Slates.  These  may,  indeed,  be 
easily  anticipated,  since  the  arguments  in  support  of  the  line,  contended  for  by  Ameri> 
ca,  were  of  surh  nature  as  to  shew,  not  only  that  it  accorded,  but  that  no  other  lin« 
could  be  consistent  with  the  treaty. 

1.  The  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  is  declared,  by  they  treaty,  to  be  formed 
by  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source  of  St.  Croix  River  to  the  Highlands,  which 
said  Highlands  are  declared  to  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the 
River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  and  the  treaty 
further  declares  Ihe  eastern  Boundary  of  Ihe  United  States  to  be,  a  line  drawn  .  . 
.  .  .  .  "from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix  directly  north,  to  the  aforesaid 
Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which 
fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence." 

The  United  States  accordingly  contend,  that  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia 
can  be  found  only  at  some  point  of  the  said  due  north  line,  and  at  that  point  only  where 
the  said  line  intersects  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  aforesaid;  that  Ihe  said 
north-west  angle  is,  therefore,  determined  to  be  at  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  said 
north  line,  with  the  Higldands  in  which  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence 
have  their  sources;  and  that  Uie  said  nortli-west  angle  thus  determined,  is,  and  can 
be  no  where  else  than  at  the  place  on  the  said  north  line,  about  1 14  miles  due  north  from 
the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  where  the  said  line  intersects  the  ridge  or  Highlands, 
which  divide  the  waters  of  a  tributary  stream  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  (presumed  to 
be  the  river  Metis,)  from  the  upper  branches  of  the  River  Ristigouche,  which  falls  in- 
to the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

On  the  other  hand  it  is  contended,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova  Scotia  is  to  be  found,  at  a  point  on  the  said  norlli  line,  about  forty 


35 

milei  due  north  Trom  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  where  the  said  line  intersecli, 
or  pisses  along  the  eastern  basis  of  an  insulated  Mount,  called  "Mars  Hill;"  although 
neither  that  hill,  nor  that  point  of  intersection,  divides,  or  is  near  any  other  waters,  but 
some  small  tributary  streams  of  the  River  St.  John. 

Whatever  objections  have  been,  or  may  be,  made  to  the  point  contended  for  by 
the  United  States,  it  is  clear,  a'.id  this  is  at  present  the  only  subject  of  discussion,  that 
the  place  thus  designated  by  Great  Hritnin,  as  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia, 
does  not  fulfil,  and  is  in  direct  opposition  to,  the  conditions  prescribed  by  the  treaty. 
Mars  Hill,  so  far  from  being  a  Highland  which  divides  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  is,  at  least,  one  hun- 
dred miles  distant,  in  every  direction,  from  any  of  the  sources  of  any  of  the  rivers  that 
empty  themselves  into  the  River  St.   Lawrence;  and  it  divides  no  other  rivers,  but 
Ooosequick  River,  from  the  River  Presque  Isle;  both  which  are  tributary  streams  of 
the  River  St.  John,  into  which  they  empty  themselves,  a  few  miles  east  of  the  said  due 
north  line.     It  is,  therefore,  contended,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  that  although  it 
is  expressly  provided  by  the  treaty,  that  the  north-  west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  is  formed 
by  the  due  north  line  aforesaid,  and  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  in- 
to the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  yet  that 
Horth-west  angle  is  not  on  the  Highlands,  which  divide  the  rivers  thus  expressly  do- 
scribed,  but  on  a  Highland  or  place  which  divides  other  rivers  than  those  thus  descri- 
bed, viz:  rivers  thnt  fall  into  one  and  the  same  river,  the  River  St  John,  which  falls 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

In  other  words,  it  is  contended  that  a  point  designated  by  the  treaty,  as  a  point  on 
Highlands  which  divide  rivers  that  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  may  be  construed  to  be  a  point  on  a  place,  or  Highland, 
that  divides  from  each  other  rivers  which,  uniting  their  streams,  fall  together  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  or,  as  Urilish  agents  have  contended,  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

That  pretension  is  objected  to  by  the  United  States,  not  merely  as  an  untenable 
construction,  but  as  an  actual  substitution  of  a  provision  not  in  the  treaty,  to  an  ex- 
press and  explicit  provision  of  the  treaty. 

2.  The  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  is,  according  to  the  treaty,  formed  by  a 
line  drawn  due  north  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix,  to  the  Highlands  which 
divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  (he  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  River 
St  Lawrence.  That  north  line  being  the  western  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  afore- 
said Highlands  which,  together  with  it,  form  the  said  north-west  angle,  being  the 
northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia,  must,  from  that  angle,  extend  eastwardly  towards 
the  Bay  des  Chaleurs. 

From  the  place,  which  the  United  States  contend  to  be  "the  north-west  angle  of 
Nova  Scotia,"  the  dividing  Ridge  or  Highlands  extend  in  a  north-eastwardly  direction, 
passing  north  of  the  waters  of  the  River  Ristigouche  and  of  its  tributary  streams,  con- 
tinuing to  divide  the  several  branches  of  that  river  from  the  rivers  which  fall  into  the 
River  St.  Lawrence,  and  forming  the  northern  Boundary  of  Nova  Scoiia,  as  referred 
to  i«  the  treaty  c/  1783,  and  as  described  in  the  previous  Acts  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment 

No  Highl  mds  dividing  the  rivers  designated  in  the  treaty  of  1783,  nor  any  Fligh- 
lands,  in  any  sense  whatever  of  that  word,  do  extend,  or  can  extend,  from  Mars  Hill 
eastwardly,  so  as  to  form  by  their  intersection  with  the  line  drawn  due  north  from  the 
source  of  the  River  St  Croix,  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  to  be  there  the 
northern  boundary  of  that  Province. 

The  ground  from  Mars  Hill,  in  any  direction  towards  the  East,  so  far  from  be- 
ing "  Highlands,"  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  does  gradually  descend  towards  the  main 


06 

Kivcr  St.  John,  (i)  Any  line  drawn  in  that  direction  must,  necessarily,  within  a  fuw 
miles  fron)  Mars  Hill,  cross  that  river  anJ  sink  to  its  level,  at  a  place,  which,  being 
not  more  than  eighty  miles  from  the  tide  water  above  Predoricton,  can  be  but  little 
above  the  level  of  the  Sea.  .Sucii  line,  from  Mars'  Hill  to  the  River  St.  John,  and  for 
some  distanoc  beyond  it,  ran  divide  no  other  rivers  than  the  tributary  streams  of  one 
and  the  snme  river,  viz:  the  Uiver  St.  John;  and,  inittcnd  of  dividing  it,  must  cross 
that  river  itself. 

3.  It  must  also  be  observed,  that,  by  pretending  thut  Mars  Hill  is  the  norlli-wcst 
'  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  it  is,  in  fact,  contended  that  that  I'rovinre  has  two  nnrth-wcsl  an- 
gles. For,  arguing  from  the  position  assumed  on  the  part  of  (ireut  Mritain,  the  High- 
lands, forming  the  northern  Uuundnry  and  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  must 
extend  from  Mars  Hill  to  the  western  extremity  of  Iky  dcs  ('haleurs,  which  western 
extremity  would,  in  that  case,  be  the  north-west  angle  of  that  Province. 

4.  Finally,  the  Boundary  of  the  United   States  is  declared,  by  the  treaty,  to  be 

"-Frowi  the  norih-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotio 

along  the  said  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River 
St.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-western- 
most head  of  Connecticut  River."  And  the  .American  line  agrees  in  every  particular 
with  that  description;  dividing,  through  its  whole  extent,  rivers,  which  they  contend 
to  be,  and  which  are,  rivers  falling  respectively  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence  and  into 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

iiut  the  British  line  extends  along  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  descri- 
bed in  the  treaty,  only  from  a  point  which  divides  a  north-western  source  of  the  »{iver 
Penobscot  that  fall.s  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  a  source  of  the  Majcrmctio  branch  of 
the  River  Chaudierc,  which  falls  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  north-western- 
most head  of  Connecticut  River.  It  is  only  for  thi  t  extent,  or  about  eighty-five  miles 
in  a  straight  line,  that  the  British,  which  there  cuinc.'dcs  with  the  American  line,  ful- 
fils the  condition  prescribed  by  the  treaty. 

From  Mars  Hill,  the  pretended  north  west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  British 
place  of  beginning,  to  the  nearest  sourre  of  Penobscot  River,  their  line  divides,  from 
each  other,  only  tributary  streams  of  one  and  the  same  river,  viz:  the  River  St.  John; 
and  thence  to  the  source  of  the  River  ChaudieiT,  it  divides  only  the  tributary  streams 
of  that  river  from  those  of  the  Penobscot.  The  British  line,  therefore,  from  Mors 
Hill  to  the  source  of  the  River  Chaudiere,  does,  through  the  whole  distance,  or  about 
one  hundred  and  lifteen  miles,  in  a  straight  line,  (m)  divide  no  other  river  than  rivers 
fulling  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  rivers  fulling  also  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  or, 
according  to  the  suijgestions  of  the  British  Agents,  it  divides  no  other  rivers  than 
rivers  falling  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  from  Rivers  falling  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  line  does  not,  for  the  whole  of  that  distance,  divide  the 
rivers  designated  by  the  treaty;  but,  instead  of  that,  it  divides  only  rivers  which  are 
acknowledged  by  Great  Britain  not  to  be  those  contemplated  and  described  by  the 
treaty. 

It  is  therefore,  contended  by  Great  Britain,  that,  notwithstanding  the  Boundary 
is  expressly  declared,  by  the  treaty,  to  extend  from  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova 
Scotia  to  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  aloni(  the  Highlands 
which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  from 
those  which  full  into  the  Atluntic  Ocean;  and  although  those  words,  from,  along, 


(i)  See  Section  fmm  Mars  Hill  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  dei  Chutes.  Topographicil  Evidence, 
CommiMion  Sirreyii,  N".  5. 

(m)  There  is  no  material  difference  between  those  UisUnces  a*  respectiirely  laid  down  in  Mitchell's 
Map  and  Map  A. 


37 

•ml  lo,  arc  the  clearett  and  tlrotiKcst  whiuh  could  )i«vc  been  Miected  for  the  purpote 
oI'dcclariiiK  that  tliu  Uuuii.l.iry  lliuit  di'scrilied,  rniHl,  tlirough  iU  vvhulo  extent,  from 
ita  bt-ginning  to  itn  tcrminuti^,  Ix:  uIomk  llie  »aid  llif^hlanda,  yet  lliat  clear  and  impo- 
rativo  dciicriptiun  may  Ihi  conilrued  to  moan,  that  the  line  may,  for  more  than  one 
liaU'of  its  extt'iil,  he  uloiig  j^rouiul,  (ur  n*  UHsurled,  Highlands,)  which  is  acknowledged 
not  lo  divide  the  rivers  thus  deocribtd  by  the  treaty,  but  to  divide  only  rivers  ac- 
knowlfdgud  not  to  bii  those  contemplated  and  dcscrilied  by  the  treaty. 

To  this  the  United  States  also  object,  not  only  as  an  untenable  construction,  but 
as  being,  to  all  intents  and  pur|)08eB,  an  actual  and  clear  substitution  oft  now  provi- 
sion, to  a  most  express  and  explicit  provision  of  the  treaty. 

It  is  not  intended  lo  examine  now  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  sustain 
auch  extraordinary  preicnsions,  hy  resorting  to  intentions  gratuitously  ascribed  to  the 
framcrs  of  the  treaty  of  1783. 

"  The  first  general  maxim  of  interpretation  is,  that  it  is  not  permitted  to  inter- 
pret what  has  no  need  of  iiiter|>ret.ition.  When  an  act  is  conceived  in  clear  and  pre- 
cise terms,  when  the  sense  is  manifesi,  and  leads  to  nothing  absurd,  there  can  be  no 
reason  lo  refuse  the  sense  which  this  treaty  naturally  presents.  To  go  elsewhere  in 
search  of  conjectures,  in  order  to  restrain  or  extinguish  it,  is  to  endeavor  to  elude  it. 
If  this  dangerous  method  be  once  admitted,  there  is  no  act  which  it  will  not  render 
useless.  Let  the  brightest  light  shine  un  all  the  parts  of  the  piece,  let  it  be  expressed 
in  terms  the  most  clear  and  determinate,  all  this  shall  be  of  no  use,  if  it  be  allowed  to 
search  for  foreign  reasons  ii\  order  to  maintain  what  cannot  be  found  in  the  sense  it 
natura.'V  presents."     (Vattel,  Hook  2,  ch.  17,  §  a63.     Written  Evidence,  No.  85.) 

Hut  without  anticipating  wliat  new  arguments  may  be  advanced  on  the  part  of 
Gn.ii  Uiitain,  this  hrnncli  of  the  subject  will  Ixj  concluded  by  a  single  observation. 

Tho  British  line  paiises  along  that  portion  alone  of  the  Highlands  dividing  the 
rivers  deticribci'.I"  the  treaty,  which  extends  from  the  source  of  the  Majermetto 
branch  to  the  sources  of  the  Connecticut  Kivcr.  That  portion  alone  is  considered  by 
the  Hritish  as  "  the  Highlands"  contemplated  by  the  treaty;  and  it  lies  west  fiom  Mars 
Hill,  and,  generally,  from  the  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  River  St.  Croix.  Had 
that  portion  of  the  Highlands  been  thus  cuntempblcd  by  the  framers  of  the  treaty;  had 
they  intended  the  description  of  the  Highlands,  as  it  stands  in  the  treaty,  to  have  ap- 
plied exclusively  to  that  portion;  it  becomes  altogether  incomprehensible  that  they 
should  have  defined  the  Uoundary  of  the  United  States  from  tho  source  of  the  River 
St.  Croix,  as  a  line  "  directly  north  to  the  Highlands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence." 

It  is  evident  that,  with  Mitchell's  map  before  them,  the  negotiators,  if  contem- 
plating no  other  Highlands  than  that  particular  |>ortion,  must,  in  order  to  reach  it,  have 
described  the  line  to  the  Highlands,  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  fiom  those  which  fall  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  as  a  line  directly  west,  and 
nut  as  u  line  directly  north,  from  the  supposed  lake,  which,  in  Mitchell's  map,  is  laid 
down  as  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix. 


II. 

NOKTH-WESTEMNMOST  HEAD  OF  CONNKCTICDT  RIVER. 


The  Boundary  of  the  United  States,  is,  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  declared  to  be 

'<from  the  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia along  the 

said  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  emi)ty  tliemsolves  into  the  River  St. 
I^wrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  tho  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost 

10 


38 

head  of  Connecticut  River;  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river,  to  the  forty- 
fifth  degree  of  north  latitude;  from  thence,  by  a  line  due  west,  on  said  latitude,"  &c. 

The  head  branches  of  Connecticut  River,  but  imperfectly  known  at  the  dale  of  the 
treaty  of  1783,  have  since  been  explored  and  surveyed,  by  order  of  the  Commission- 
ers appointed  under  tiie  5ih  article  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  (n) 

It  is  now  ascertained  that  there  are  four  of  those  branches  which  have  their 
sources  in  the  Highlands,  by  which  they  are  divided  from  a  tributary  of  the  River  St. 
Lawrence,  and  about  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  north  of  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude. 

Those  Branches,  proceeding  from  west  to  east,  are  now  known  respectively  by 
the  names  of  Hall's  Siream,  Indian  Stream,  P»rry's  Stream,  and  Main  Connecticut, 
or  Main  Stream  of  Connecticut  River.  From  its  peculiar  characteristic,  this  last  branch 
might  be  designated  as  the  Lake  Uranch  or  Stream. 

Indian  Stream,  Perry's  Strenm,  and  the  Lake  Stream,  are  all  united  into  one, 
about  two  miles  north  of  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  north  latitude:  and,  thus  united, 
they  were  known,  at  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  by  the  name  of  Connecticut 
River,  at  the  place  where  the  river  was  then  supposed  to  cross  the  aforesaid  parallel. 
The  mouth  of  Hall's  Stream,  already  known  by  that  name,  ai  the  date  of  the  treaty 
of  1783,  is  below,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  that  place,  but  above,  and 
half  a  mile  north  of  the  point  which,  from  later  and  more  correct  observation.o,  appears 
to  be  in  latitude  45. 

Whether  the  words,  "head  of  the  river,"  were  intended,  by  the  treaty,  synony- 
mous with,  or  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  a  meaning  somewhat  ditfering  from  either 
of  the  words,  "source,"  or,  "head  branch  of  the  river;"  the  term  "tiorth-westeruinost'* 
necessarily  implies  that  there  is  more  tiian  one  "head  of  the  river"  within  the  mean- 
ing of  the  treaty;  and  that  several  sources  or  head  branches  were  contemplated,  as 
being  equally  heads  of  the  river,  and  amongst  which,  the  north-westernmost  is  desig- 
nated as  that,  at  which  the  Boundary  leaves  the  Highlands. 

The  surveys  will  shew,  at  once,  that  the  sources  of  the  middle  branch  of  Hall's 
Stream  isthe  north-westernmost  headof  all  iheabove  mentioned  branches  of  Connecticut 
River;  and  it  has  accordingly  been  claimed,  on  the  part  of  the  United  Stales,  as  the 
true  north-westernmost  head  contemplated  by  the  treaty. 

The  source  of  the  north  westernmost  brook  which  empties  itself  into  the  upper 
Lake  of  the  most  eastern  branch,  (being  that  designated  as  the  Main  Stream  or  Lake 
Stream  of  Connecticut  River,)  has  been  claimed,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  as  the 
north-westernmost  head  contemplated  by  the  treaty.  And  the  Commissioner  on  the 
part  of  his  Britannic  Majesty,  under  the  5th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  has  sus- 
tained the  claim;  principally  on  the  ground,  that  the  said  branch  is,  in  fact,  the  main 
branch  of  Connecticut  River;  and  that  it  is,  and  has,  as  he  avers,  been,  for  an  indefi- 
nite time,  exclusively  known  or  distinguished  by  that  name. 

The  Comn)issioner  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  under  the  5th  article  afore- 
said, has  decided  that  the  head  of  the  west  branch  of  luflian  Stream  is  the  true  north- 
westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River  intended  by  the  treaty.  This  decision  is 
founded  on  an  opinion,  that  it  must  have  been  contemplated  by  the  treaty,  that  the 
north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River  should  become  identified  with  the  main 
itream,  above  and  north  of  the  place  where  the  45th  parallel  of  north  latitude  was,  at 
the  date  of  the  treaty,  supposed  to  be.  According  to  this  construction,  Hall's  Stream 
being  excluded,  the  head  of  the  west  branch  of  Indian  Stream  woulil  become,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  surveys,  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  within  the 
meaning  of  the  treaty. 


(ri)  Topo(;rap)iical  Kvi.lencf.     Siirv.vj  fileil  witti  ti\e  CommiMioners  undtr  the  Sib  »rticle  of  th« 
Tretty  of  Client,  Not.  11  and  12,  Amcricin  Atlaa 


39 

The  term  "north -westernmost  head  of  the  River  Connecticut,"  could  not  have 
been  intended  by  tiie  treaty,  to  designate,  at  tne  same  time,  both  the  source  of  the 
principal  branch  of  that  liver,  and  the  source  of  the  branch  which  might  be  exclu- 
sively known,  at  that  time,  by  the  name  of  Connecticut  River;  rince,  whether  any  of 
Its  upper  branches  was  distinguished  from  all  others  by  that  name,  and  which  was  the 
principal  branch,  were  facts  unknfiwn  to  the  framers  of  the  trtity.  Hut,  that  either 
of  these  objects  was  intended,  i»  etpially  repelled  by  the  express  terms  of  the  treaty. 

The  expression  '*  r  jfth-westernmust"  necessarily  implies,  that  more  than  one 
head  of  Connecticut  .jver  was  contemplated  by  the  treaty,  and  that  the  selection  was 
made  to  depend,  neither  on  the  size  nor  name  of  the  branch,  but  on  its  relative 
situation. 

Had  the  words  "  head  of  the  river"  been  intended  to  designate  the  main  or 
largest  branch,  this  must  have  continued  to  be  the  main  branch,  rivulet,  or  brook,  to 
its  very  source.  And  if  such  had  been  the  intention,  the  wortls  "main  head,"  or 
"  head  of  the  main  branch,''  would  have  been  substituted  in  the  treaty  to  the  words 
"  north  westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River." 

It  is  denied,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  that  the  hike  branch  was,  at  the 
date  of  the  treaty,  known  and  exclusively  distinguished  as  the  main  branch  of  the  Con- 
necticut River;  but  supposing  it  to  have  been,  at  that  time,  thu.s  known  and  distin- 
guished, still  theterin  "  north-wcsteriiniost"  applied  to  the  intended  head,  proves  that 
a  selection  being  cunleniplaled,  no  one  branch,  even  though  emphatically  called  the 
main  branch,  is  entitled  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other,  to  be  considered  as  the  "  head 
of  the  river"  intended  and  pointed  out  by  the  treaty.  Had  such  been  the  intention, 
the  word  '<  north-westernmost"  would  cerlaiiily  hiivu  been  omitted. 

The  Boundary  is,  by  the  treaty,  declared  to  be  from  the  north-westernmost  head 
of  Connecticut  River,  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river,  to  the  45lh  degree  of  north 
latitude.  And  this  has  been  urged  to  shew,  that,  from  the  said  head,  the  Boundary 
must  necessarily  run  down  along  the  middle  of  a  branch,  exclusively  known  by  the 
name  of  Connecticut  River. 

This  inference  is,  in  reality,  nothing  more  than  a  repetition  of  the  fiut  assertion, 
and  taking  fur  )>,ranted  what  is  in  question. 

If,  by  the  words  '•  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,"  it  had  been  in- 
tended to  designate  exclusively  a  branch  specially  known  by  the  name  of  Connecticut 
River,  then,  and  then  only,  it  could  be  inferred,  that,  from  that  head,  the  boundary 
must  run  down  the  middle  of  a  branch  known  by  that  .special  name.  But  this  is  pre- 
cisely what  is  denied,  and  has  l>een  shewn  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  designation  of 
''  noith-westernmost,"  alVixed  to  the  contemplated  head. 

If,  as  has  already  been  proved,  the  word  "  north-westernmost"  necessarily  implies 
a  selection  amongst  the  various  branches  of  Connecticut  River,  which  have  their 
sources  in  the  dividing  Highhinds,  it  follows,  that  that  branch  which  shall  be  found  to 
be  the  north-westernniost  headof  Coiinei'ticul  River,  although  not  emphatically  known 
at  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  1 78:1,  by  the  name  of  Connecticut  River,  or  of  main  branch 
thereof,  is,  nevertherle's,  considered  by  tiie  treaty  as  a  branch  or  portion  of  Connec- 
ticut River.  And  it  is  down  along  the  middle  of  such  branch,  that,  from  its  source, 
the  Boundary  is  cunteinpluted  to  run. 

This  construction,  which  is  alone  consistent  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  is,  in 
fact,  admitted  on  tlie  part  of  tiroat  Britain,  since  it  has  been  adopted  in  relation  to  a 
part  of  the  boundary  she  claims:  and  this  admission,  whether  fur  a  longer  or  shorter 
distance,  is  equally  conclusive,  as  to  the  principle. 

It  cannot  be  asseitod,  it  has  not  been  insisted,  that  either  the  upper  lake  of  that 
presumcil  main  branch,  or  the  brook  iliat  falls  into  il,and  which  is  claimed  bv  the  Bri- 
tish as  the  true  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  ever  was,  or  now  is, 


40 

known  and  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Connecticut  River,  or  of  main  branch  of 
Connecticut  River. 

From  tiie  source  of  tliat  brook,  the  Boundary  Line,  according  to  the  British 
claim,  runs  down  the  middle  of  the  said  brook,  and  of  the  upper  lake  or  pond,  though 
neither  is  known  by  the  name  of  Connecticut  River.  And  yet  tlie  said  line  is  con- 
tended for,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  as  running  from  tlie  source  of  said  brook, 
along  the  middle  of  the  river  Connecticut.  It  is  evident  that  this  is  precisely  the 
principle  for  which  the  United  States  cantcnd. 

In  what  precedes,  it  has  been  taken  for  granteil,  that  the  lake  branch  of  the  Con- 
necticut River  was  exclusively  known  and  distinguished  from  all  others,  at  the  date 
of  the  treaty  of  1783,  by  the  name  of  Main  Connecticut  liiver.  The  United  States 
are  not  bound  to  prove  a  negative.  When  it  is  asserted,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain, 
that  the  brand)  in  question  had,  at  that  time,  received,  and  was  alone  known  by,  the 
name  of  Connecticut  River,  the  burden  of  the  proof  falls  upon  her. 

No  such  proof  has  been  adduced  on  her  part;  the  only  evidence  bi ought  forward 
on  the  subject,  applying  to  a  date  long  subsequent  to  that  of  the  treaty.  The  upper 
branches  of  Connecticut  River,  north  of  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  are  not  laid 
down  correctly  in  Mitchell's  Map;  and  there  is  none  that  is  distinguislied,  as  the 
main  river,  or  by  any  si)ecial  name.  So  far  as  this  map  regulated  the  proceedings  of 
the  framers  of  the  treaty,  it  clearly  shews,  that  they  could  not  have  supposed  any  one 
branch  to  be  exclusively  known  by  the  name  of  the  main  Connecticut.  It  may,  on 
the  contrary,  be  fairly  inferred  from  the  map,  that  the  most  westerly  branch,  north  of 
the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  was  that  the  source  of  which  must  have  been  con- 
templated as  the  north-westernmost  head  of  tlie  river. 

There  is  not  a  single  map  published,  prior  to  the  treaty  of  17S3,  in  which  those 
branches  are  laid  down  correctly;  there  is  nut  a  single  one  in  which  any  trace  can  be 
found  of  the  Connecticut  lakes,  which  p.irticiilarlj' characterise  the  branch  pretended 
to  have  beer  known,  in  1783,  as  the  main  Connecticut  River,  (o) 

The  first  map  adduced  in  evidence,  in  which  Indian  Sireani  (there  called  river,) 
and  the  lake  branch  are  laid  down  with  tolerable  correctness,  is  that  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, published  in  the  year  1816,  by  P.  Carrigan.  And,  even  in  that  map,  Perry's 
Stream  is  neither  called  by  that  name,  nor  laid  down  correctly,   (p) 

It  has,  it  is  hoped,  been  satisfactorily  shewn  that  the  supposition,  that  the  Lake 
Branch  was,  in  1783,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Main  Connecticut  River;  a  sup- 
position on  which,  alone,  the  British  pretension  and  argument  are  attempted  to  be 
sustained  ;  is  a  mere  assertion,  unsupported  by  any  evidcnci',  and  wiiicli  seems  to  be 
entirely  groundless.  It  has  also  been  proved,  that,  supposing  this  assertion  to  have 
been  founded  in  fact,  no  one  branch,  even  though  known  in  17S.3  as  the  Main  Con- 
necticut, was  entitled,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other,  to  he  considered  as  the  head  of 
the  river  designated  by  the  treaty,  unless  the  word  *'  north-westernmost"  was  struck 
out  from  the  treaty.  It  remains  only  to  examine  the  reasons  which  induced  the  Com- 
missioner, on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  under  the  5th  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  to  decide  in  favor  of  Indian  Stream,  to  the  exclusion  of  Willi's  .Stream. 

The  Boundary  Line  between  the  Provinces  of  New  Y'ork  and  (^nehec,  had  hren 
surveyed  in  the  year  1772,  from  Lake  Champlain  to  the  Connecticut  River,  along  the 
45th  parallel  of  North  latitude.  (7)  This  line,  as  then  run,  crosses  Hall's  Stream,  a 
short  distance  above  its  mouth,  and  terminates  two  miles  above  i(,  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  where  the  Surveyors  placed  a  post,  still  subsisting.     It  was  then  that  Hall's 


(0)  Topograpliical  Kviilcnce — rriritcil  Maps  published  to  (lie  y<  ar  1~8.),  iniliiKiv  \j. 

(p)  Toi  :gnipliical  Evidence— Surveys  and  Map> under  the  late  Commission,  No.  23.-(Cariigan'8m»p.) 

(q)  Topograpliical  Evidence— Sun-eys,  No.  30. 


41 

Stream  received  its  distinctive  name  ;  and  it  was  then  that  tHb'  main  stream  was,  by 
the  survey  of  the  line,  and  by  the  erection  of  the  monument  at  its  end,  recognised, 
in  an  authentic  manner,  to  be,  as  high  as  that  place,  the  Connecticut  River.  Above 
and  beyond  that  place  it  was  not  explored  ;  and  no  distinctive  names  were  given  to 
its  several  upper  branches. 

According  to  that  survey,  Hall's  Stream  was  understood  to  unite  itself  with  the 
main  river,  South  of  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  North  latitude.  And  the  Commis- 
sioner was  of  opinion,  that  the  boundary  line  must  necessarily,  where  it  met  the  45th 
degree  of  latitude,  be  in  the  middle  of  that  stream,  which,  at  that  point,  was,  prior  to 
the  treaty  of  1783,  recognised  to  be  the  River  Connecticut. 

The  Commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  allowed  to  Great  firitain  all 
that,  by  the  most  liberal  construction  in  her  favor,  could  be  claimed  on  her  part. 
Several  reasons  have  been  urged  in  this  statement,  tending  to  shew  that  his  argument, 
in  that  point,  was  not  conclusive.  But  should  his  construction,  nevertheless,  prevail, 
Indian  Stream,  which  is  free  of  all  objections,  and  the  whole  course  of  which  is  north 
of  the  45th  parallel  of  north  latitude,  must  be  considered  as  the  north-westernmost 
head  of  Connecticut  River,  contemplated  by  the  treaty. 

This  construction,  it  must  be  observed,  is  founded  on  the  principle,  that  the 
general  meaning  of  the  expression  "north- westernmost"  is  restrained  by  a  limitation, 
found  in  another  expression  of  that  provision  of  the  treaty.  But  there  is  another 
limitation  which  must  also  be  attended  to.  The  Boundary  is  declared  to  be  along  the 
said  Highlands,  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St. 
Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost 
head  of  Connecticut  River. 

The  Boundary  continues,  therefore,  along  the  said  Highlands  to  the  said  north- 
westernmost  head.  That  head,  therefore,  is  a  source  which  rises,  and  every  source 
is  excluded  which  does  not  rise,  in  the  said  Highlands.  But  the  north-eastern  brook, 
which  empties  itself  into  the  Upper  Lake  of  the  Lake  Branch,  rises  opposite  to  a 
branch  of  the  Margallaway  River,  which  is  a  tributary  stream  of  the  Kennebec.  That 
brook,  therefore,  as  well  as  every  other,  that  empties  into  the  Lake  Branch,  east  of 
the  north-western  brook,  which  is  claimed  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  as  the  north- 
westernmost  head  of  the  River,  has  its  source,  not  in  the  Highlands,  which  divide 
those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  but  in  a  Highland  which  divides,  from  each  other,  two 
rivers,  which  both  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  north-westernmost  brook,  that  empties  itself  into  the  Upper  Lake  of  the 
Lake  Branch,  and  which  is  claimed  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  as  the  north-western- 
most head,  instead  of  being  the  north-westernmost,  is,  therefore,  actually  the  north- 
easternmost  head  of  Connecticut  River,  that  rises  in  the  Highlands,  which  divide 
those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St,  Lawrence  from  those  which 
fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  is,  therefore,  in  fact,  contended  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain,  that,  of  all  the  heads  of  Connecticut  River  which  come  within  the  description 
of  the  treaty,  it  is  the  north-easternmost  which  must  be  selected  as  being  the  north- 
westernmost  head  prescribed  by  the  treaty. 


III. 

BOUNDAUV  LINE  FROM  CONNBCTICUT  HIVEU  TO  THE  RIVKU  ST.  LAWRENCE. 


The  River  Connecticut  had,  by  an  order  in  Council,  dated  the  20th  of  July,  1764, 

been  declared  to  be  the  Boundary  between  the  Provinces  of  New  York  and  New 
11 


48 

riampsliire,  from  the  northern  Boundary  of  the  Province  of  Mas»achusetts'  Bay,  to 
the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  (r) 

On  the  12th  August,  1768,  an  order  was  issued  by  the  King  in  Council,  on  tho 
subject  of  the  Boundary  between  the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and  New  York,  in  the 
following  words,  viz  :  "Whereas,  there  was  this  day  read  at  the  Hoard,  a  report  from 
the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  for  Plantation  Affairs, 
dated  the  9th  of  this  instant,  upon  considerini;  a  report  made  by  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  upon  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  Sir  Henry  Moore, 
Governor  of  Now  York,  to  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  dated  the  16th  of  January  last, 
relative  to  the  settling  the  Boundary  line  between  that  Province  and  Quebec  :  By 
which  report,  it  appears  that,  it  having  been  mutually  agreed  upon  between  Sir  Henry 
Moore  and  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  at  a  meeting  for  that 
purpose  appointed,  that  the  line  of  division  between  these  Provinces  should  be  fixed 
at  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude,  conformable  to  the  limits  laid  down  in  his 
Majesty's  Proclamation  of  Oct.  1763,  and  it  having  been  ascertained  and  determined 
by  proper  observations  where  the  said  hnc  would  pass  ;  it  is,  therefore,  proposed  that 
the  proceedings  above  staled,  should  be  confirmed  by  His  Majesty,  His  Majesty 
taking  the  said  report  into  consideration,  was  pleased  with  the  advice  of  his  Privy 
Council,  to  approve  thereof,  and  doth  hereby  confirm  the  procce<lings  above  staled, 
and  order,  that  the  said  line  of  division  be  run  out  and  continued  as  far  as  each  Pro- 
vince respectively  extends,"  &c. 

The  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  the  King's  Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colo- 
nies, transmitted  on  the  13th  August,  1768,  to  Sir  Henry  Moore,  Governor  of  New 
York,  the  above  "  order  of  His  Majesty  in  Council,  confirming  the  Boundary  Line 
between  New  York  and  Quebec,  as  agreed  upon,  and  fixed  by  yourself,  (Governor 
Moore)  and  Governor  Carleton,"  stating,  at  the  same  time,  that  His  Majesty  had  the 
fullest  reliance  on  his  zeal,  &c.  for  the  due  execution  of  said  order,  (s) 

Those  orders  were  completely  carried  into  cflecl,  and  in  the  most  authentic 
manner,  by  the  successive  Governors  and  other  Provincial  authorities  of  New  York, 
in  conjunction  with  those  of  the  Province  of  Quebec. 

The  Surveyor  General  of  the  Province  was  authorized  and  directed  by  the 
Governor  and  Executive  Council,  to  carry  on  that  important  service,  agreeably  to 
the  tenor  of  his  Majesty's  instructions ;  and,  by  virtue  of  a  commission  which  passed 
the  Great  Seal,  he  was  authorized  and  directed,  in  conjunctiun  with  the  Surveyor  of 
the  Province  of  Quebec,  "  to  run,  mark,  ascertain,  and  distinguish  the  partition  line 
between  the  two  Provinces,  as  far  as  each  respective  Province  extended." 

Governor  Tryon,  in  an  instruction  to  the  Surveyor  General,  dated  30th  Januarj', 
1772,  directs  him  to  proceed  to  the  place  where  the  Surveyor  had  stopped  the  last  fall 
{20  miles  east  of  Lake  Champlain),  and  then  in  the  following  words,  viz  : 

♦'  From  whence,  you  are  to  continue  the  same  line,  until  you  arrive  at  the  western 
banks  of  the  main  branch  of  Connecticut  River,  that  crosses  the  45th  degree  of  northern 
latitude ;  but  if  such  main  branch  shall  t>e  found  not  to  extend  northward,  so  far  as 
the  latitude  of  forty-five,  then  to  run  a  perpendicular  from  the  northernmost  part  of 
the  said  branch,  to  the  line  aforesaid  ;  and  in  running  the  said  line, care  must  be  taken 
to  blaze  the  trees  on  the  east  and  west  sides,  as  you  pass  along,  cutting  down  only 
such  trees  as  stand  directly  in  the  sight  of  the  compass  ;  and,  at  the  disti.nre  of  every 
three  miles,  laying  together  a  large  heap  of  stones,  and  cutting  a  few  notches  on  the 
trees  nighcst  each  pile  of  stones.  It  is  of  the  utmost  consequence,  that  you  should 
not  stop  at  any  water-course  short  of  the  aforementioned  main  branch  of  Connecticut 

(r)  Written  Evidence,  No.  22.        (»)  Written  Evidence,  No.  26. 


43 

River  ;  and  it  is  only  by  adhering  to  these  instructfons  that  you  can  answer  the  just 
expectations  of  the  public,  from  whom  you  are  to  receive  your  reward  for  porforming 
this  important  service.  You  are  to  return  to  me  a  map,  with  a  field  book  of  the  sur- 
vey, in  which  book  you  nre  to  take  notice  of  all  remarkable  waters  you  cross  ;  minut- 
ing, also,  the  courses  and  distances  of  the  marked  trees  near  the  monuments  of  stones 
you  shall  erect,  with  such  other  observations  as  shall  appear  worthy  of  notice  ;  to  the 
intent  such  map  and  field  book  may  be  lodged  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Province."  {() 

Successive  and  repeated  instructions  were  given  by  the  Governor  and  Council  in 
relation  to  the  same  object.  The  Surveyor  was  particularly  directed,  after  having 
run  the  line  eastward  to  Connecticut  River,  to  return  to  Point  Moore,  the  station 
fixed  on  the  east  side  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  place  of  beginning,  and  to  extend  the 
line  from  Lake  Champlain,  westward,  until  it  should  intersect  the  River  St.  Lawrence, 
fn  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude.  And  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Quebec  gave 
notice  "That  His  Majesty's  Council  of  that  Government  were  unanimously  of  opinion 
that  the  Boundary  Line  between  the  two  Governments  should  be  run  and  distinguish- 
ed, from  Lake  Champlain  to  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  as  hail  been  proposed  by  the 
Province  of  New  York,  and  that  the  Surveyors  were  accordingly  to  proceed  on  that 
work."  («) 

The  line  was  accordingly  surveyed  and  marked  along  the  45th  parallel  of  north 
latitude,  from  the  east  side  of  Lake  Champlain,  (where  it  had  been  ascertained  and 
determined,  by  the  proper  observations  mentioned  in  the  King's  Order  in  Council  of 
12th  August,  17G8,  that  the  line  would  pass,)  to  the  river  Connecticut,  by  Thomas 
Valentine,  Deputy  Surveyor,  on  the  part  of  the  Province  of  New  York,  and  by  John 
Collins,  Deputy  Surveyor  of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  in  the  years  1771, 1772.  Both 
surveyors  gave  notice,  that  the  line  terminated  on  the  bank  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
where  a  post  was  fixed,  two  miles  and  5-8  of  a  mile  above  the  mouth  of  Hall's  Brook, 
and  90  miles  and  a  1-4  of  a  mile  due  east  from  the  Boundary  fixed  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain. (v) 

The  Boundary  Line  was  extended  in  the  year  1773,  fifty  miles  west  of  Lake 
Champlain,  by  Claude  Joseph  Sauthicr,  Deputy  Surveyor  for  New  York,  and  by  John 
Collins,  for  Quebec.  It  was  completed  to  the  River  St.  Liwrence,  in  the  year  1774, 
by  John  Collins  alone,  duly  appointed  to  act  for  both  Provinces,  (i') 

A  plan  "  of  the  Boundary  line  between  the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and  New  York, 
latitude  45  degrees,  variation  of  the  compass  9  degrees  west,  surveyed  and  completed 
the  80th  October,  1774,  by  John  Collins,  D.  S.  General,"  was  returned  by  the  said 
Collins,  and  deposited  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  New  York,  where  it  still 
remains.  And  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Province,  by  two  acts,  appropriated 
800  pounds  for  the  share  of  the  expenses  of  the  Province,  in  running  out,  marking 
and  completing  the  Boundary  Line  between  the  two  Provinces,  {w) 

These  details  have  been  stated,  in  order  to  shew  the  Boundary  Line  along  the 
45th  parallel  of  latitude,  from  the  Connecticut  River  to  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  be- 
tween the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and  New  York,  having  been  first  ascertained  and 
iletermined  by  proper  observations,  was  confirmed  and  ordered  to  be  surveyed  by  the 
('rown,  and  that  the  work  was  executed  and  recorded  in  the  most  regular,  authentic, 
and  solenin  manner. 

It  will  be  found,  accordingly,  that  a  grant  of  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land,  ail- 
jacent  to  the  said  Boundary  Line,  was  made  to  Edmund  Fanning  and  others,  on  the 


(<)  Written  Kvidence,  No.  26. 

(u)  Wiiltcn  Kvidence,  No.  26.         (u)  Written  Evidence,  Nos.  'id  and  2T. 

'  H'}  ropngn»|ihic»l  Evidence,  Surveys  Commission,  No,  30. 


44 

16th  February,  1775,  by  Cad«va11ader  Colden,  Governor  of  New  York,  in  the  name 
of  the  King,  and  under  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Province.  Th«  Boundary  of  the  tract, 
thus  granted,  begins  at  a  place  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Connecticut  River,  "  five 
hundred  and  nine  chains  on  a  straight  line  below  a  certain  cedar  post,  set  up  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  said  river  in  the  year  1772,  by  John  Collins  and  Thomas  Valentine, 
at  the  place  where  the  line  run  by  them,  from  the  point  of  45  degrees  of  northern 
latitude  on  Lake  Ghamplain,  intersects  the  said  river  ;  anH  this  tract  runs  from  the 
said  place  of  beginning  up  along  the  said  river,  as  it  winds  and  turns,  to  the  cedar 
post  aforesaid,  and  thence  along  the  said  line  run  by  John  Collins  and  Thomas  Valen- 
tine, North  81  degrees  West  (x)  709  chains,  thence  south,"  &c.  (y) 

It  was  also  obviously  in  reference  to  the  said  line,  that  the  Southern  Boundary 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  which  according  to  the  Proclamation  of  1763,  after  cross- 
ing the  River  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lake  Champlain,  in  45  degrees  of  north  latitude, 
passed  along  the  dividing  Highlands,  was,  by  the  Quebec  Act,  declared  to  be  along 
the  dividing  Highlands  to  a  point  in  45  degrees  of  northern  latitude,  on  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  River  Connecticut,  keeping  the  same  latitude  directly  west,  through  the 
Lake  Champlain,  until,  in  the  same  latitude,  it  meets  the  River  St  Lawrence. 

By  the  treaty  of  1783,  the  Boundary  of  the  United  States  is  declared  to  be,  along 
the  middle  of  the  River  Connecticut,  ''  to  the  forty -fifth  degree  of  north  latitude;  from 
thence  by  a  line  due  west,  on  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the  River  Iroquois  or  Cata- 
raquy,"  (St  Lawrence.)  And  the  above  mentioned  line,  between  the  Provinces  of 
Quebec  and  New  York,  was  considered,  and  continues,  in  fact,  to  this  day,  to  be  the 
line  of  jurisdiction  between  the  dominions  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 

It  is  also  in  proof  that  all  the  subsequent  grants  of  land,  adjoining  the  said  Bounda- 
ry, have  been  laid  down  along  the  above  mentioned  line,  as  formerly  surveyed;  and 
that  all  the  lands,  from  Connecticut  River  to  the  River  St  Lawrence,  along  the  45th 
parallel  of  north  latitude,  (viz:  » that  Boundary  between  the  former  Provinces  of 
New  York  and  Quebec,  as  the  same  had  been  actually  surveyed  and  established  before 
the  year  1775,  under  the  authouity  of  the  two  Provinces,  and  in  conformity  with  the 
agreement  between  them,and  ratified  by  the  King's  Order  in  Council  of  August,  1768,") 
have  been  granted  and  held  by  virtue  either  of  ancient  provincial  grants,  or  of  grants 
made  by  the  States  of  New  York  and  Vermont,  (z) 

It  is  provided  by  the  5th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  that,  whereas  neither  the 
north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  nor  the  north-westernmost  head  of  Connecticut,  has  yet 
been  ascertained,  "and  whereas  that  part  of  the  Boundary  line  between  the  dominions 
of  the  two  Powers,  which  extends  from  the  source  of  the  River  St  Croix,  directly 
north,  to  the  above  mentioned  north-west  angle  of  Nova  Scotia,  thence  along  the  said 
Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  St  Law- 
rence from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  to  the  north-westernmost  head  of 
Connecticut  River;  thence,  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river,  to  the  forty-fifth  de- 
gree of  north  latitude;  thence  by  a  line  due  west,  on  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the 
River  Iroquois  or  Cataraquy,  has  not  yet  been  surveyed;  it  is  agreed,  that  for  those 
several  purposes,  two  Commissioners  shall  be  appointed,"  &c.  who  "  shall  have  power 
to  ascertain  and  determine  the  points  above  mentioned,  in  conformity  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  said  treaty  of  Peace  of  1783,  and  shall  rause  the  Boundary  aforesaid, 
from  the  source  of  the  River  St  Croix,  to  the  River  Iroquois  or  Cataraquy,  to  be  sur- 
veyed and  marked  according  to  the  said  provisions." 

According  to  observations  of  latitude,  taken  by  Astronomers  appointed  in  pursu- 
ance of  that  article,  the  45th  parallel  of  north  latitude  appears  to  be  about  three  quar- 


(i)  By  compuu,  the  variation  beingf  nine  defp^cs  west. 

(y)  Written  Evidence,  No.  28.        (i)  Written  Evidence,  Nos.  29  and  30. 


45 

ters  of  a  mile  south  of  the  above  mentioned  old  line,  both  on  the  Connecticut  River 
and  on  Lake  Champlain;  though  it  nearly  coincides  with  the  said  line  on  the  River  St. 
Lawrence.  The  question  referred  is,  whether,  under  the  treaties  of  1783  and  of 
Ghent,  the  old  line  may  continue  to  be  considered  as  the  Boundary  of  the  United 
States,  or  whether  this  shall  be  surveyed  anew,  in  conformity  with  the  late  observa- 
tions of  latitude  ? 

It  is  clear  that  the  portion  of  the  line  which  extends  from  the  River  Connecticut  to 
the  River  St.  Lawrence,  had  been  ascertained,  by  observations  deemed  proper  at  the 
time,  and  as  such,  had  been  confirmed  by  the  Crown,  and  had  been  officially  sutveyed, 
under  the  provincial  Government,  by  orders  emanating  from  the  Crown;  that  this  line 
liad,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  from  the  treaty  of  1783  to  that  of  Ghent,  been  held 
as  the  Boundary  between  the  two  countries,  witliout  any  application  from  either  Go- 
vernment to  the  other,  to  have  it  re-surveyed  or  altered;  and  that  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
nevertheless  declares  that  the  Boundary,  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix  to  the 
River  St.  Lawrence,  (without  making  any  exception,)  had  not  yet  been  surveyed. 

It  is  now  submitted,  whether,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  as  they  have 
been  stated,  it  was  not  intended  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent  that  that  part  only  of  the 
Boundary,  from  the  source  of  the  River  St.  Croix  to  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  should 
be  surveyed  and  marked,  which  iiad  not  already  been  officially  surveyed  and  marked 
by  competent  authority;  and  whether,  therefore,  the  line  formerly  surveyed  and  es- 
tablished as  the  Boundary  between  the  Provinces  of  Quel)ec  and  New  York,  is  not,  in 
conformity  with  the  true  spirit  and  intent  of  the  treaty,  excepted  from  the  provision 
which  directs  the  Boundary,  between  the  two  Powers,  to  be  surveyed,  and  should  not 
accordingly  remain,  as  heretofore,  the  Boundary  between  their  respective  dominions. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted  by  the  undersigned.  Agents  of  the  United 
States  inthe  negotiation,  and  upon  the  Umpirage,  relating  to  the  North-Eastern  Boun- 
dary of  the  said  States. 


ALBERT  GALLATIN, 
WM.  P.  PREBLE. 


WASHi.NOToy,  June  Is/,  1829. 


18 


